TV - Movies
How Jeff Bezos
Really Feels
About The Rings
Of Power
Season 1
By CHRIS PEREZ
Amazon founder Jeff Bezos is a lifelong “Lord of the Rings” fan and like his grandfather before him, has apparently passed down his fandom to his son, who had a very serious warning for him before "The Rings of Power" went into production. Bezos recalled to Variety that his son said to him at the UK premiere, "Dad, please don't eff this up."
"Jeff Bezos loves this show and this whole endeavor as much as anybody possibly could," Amazon Studios head Jennifer Salke told Variety, "I've talked to him a lot about it. He loves the show, and I can tell he's proud of it. And he respects the integrity of what we're setting up and the intelligence and thoughtfulness behind it."
Amazon says "The Rings of Power" will have five seasons, covering Middle-earth's Second Age long before the events of "The Hobbit" and "The Lord of the Rings.” Though viewers have given mixed reviews, Bezos knows it's a marathon, not a sprint. "We hope that more and more people come to it because it's five seasons of storytelling," Salke said.
Meanwhile, showrunners J.D. Payne and Patrick McKay shared their reaction to their harshest critics. "Some of what's been hardest to hear is the cynical point of view that this is a cash grab," McKay told THR. "It's like, oh my God, the opposite. This is the most earnest production. This is not a paycheck job for anybody. This is a labor of love."