‘LOTR: The Rings Of Power’: Vernon Sanders Talks Season 1 Return On Investment & Season 3 Renewal, Teases Faster Pace & Bigger Battles In Season 2

The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power started setting records before a frame of it had been released when word came out of New Zealand last year that its eight-episode first season cost a record $465 million to produce (not factoring in tax rebates and start-up costs amortization.)

In an interview with Deadline, Vernon Sanders, Head of Global TV for Amazon Studios, says the financial bet “has more than paid off.” He addresses the success of the show on Prime Video — where it broke records for most global viewers in its first day (25 million) and overall (more than 100 million), for minutes streamed (24 billion) and signups worldwide during its launch window, attracted younger viewers (record number of adults 18-34 for a Prime Video original) and affluent audiences (40% coming from households with income greater than $100,000) — and beyond, boosting Amazon’s sales of J.R.R. Tolkien books on which the series was based.

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In the interview, Sanders speaks about what to expect from Season 2, which is currently filming, including ramping up the pace of storytelling and the scope of battle scenes. He discusses the impact of moving production from New Zealand to the UK; whether Amazon is committed to the vision of The Rings of Power writers, showrunners and executive producers J.D. Payne and Patrick McKay for the series to span five seasons; and when we can expect a Season 3 renewal.

Sanders also addresses the recasting of Adar, played by Joseph Mawle in Season 1, with Sam Hazeldine, and teases the introduction of more familiar characters from lore. (As McKay revealed in the season finale of Deadline’s Inside the Ring aftershow, elf Círdan, who carries one of the three rings forged by Celebrimbor until he surrenders it to Gandalf, will be introduced in Season 2. McKay also teased that Season 2 would likely introduce other ring-bearers, including Dwarf-kings and Nazgûl.)

Separate from the Rings of Power conversation, Sanders provided some context to the recent executive restructurings at Amazon Studios’ TV operations and MGM TV’s scripted team.

DEADLINE: How would you evaluate the performance of The Rings of Power?

SANDERS: It’s been a tremendous success for us, it performed incredibly well around the globe. It is by far our biggest scripted series, it is the most acquisitive show that we’ve put out. After we finished releasing episodes, we saw a new surge of people come to the service to start the show. We’ve already released the fact that we’re over 100 million, and the number has gone up since then, it’s millions and millions beyond that.

We are really proud that the show drove renewed interest in the books, we saw spikes in book sales. It’s just been a company-wide success and as significant as our investment has been, it has more than paid off for us.

DEADLINE: Rings of Power received an early Season 2 renewal in late 2019. Now that Season 1 is out, are you still committed to Patrick and J.D.’s vision of telling the story over five seasons and if so, when can we expect a Season 3 renewal?

SANDERS: We are absolutely committed, we have every reason to be excited. They’ve done a tremendous job.

It’s a great question about Season 3, we’re probably two to three months in on Season 3 but I think there could be news certainly in the new year. There’s so much planning and prep that’s necessary for us to get this mounted that the only reason we probably haven’t gotten there quite yet is we’ve just been so heads down in Season 2, but I would expect there to be news in the new year.

DEADLINE: How is production on Season 2 going?

SANDERS: It’s going great. Season 1 had so much establishing to do that we now get to have the fun of seeing the story ramp up as Sauron is revealed. And I think audiences can look forward to a show that, while it feels true to itself, feels like the stakes are ever higher and now that the rings are in play, seeing what they can do and seeing how the various factions within the world deal with those implications. I think it’s going to be really compelling.

DEADLINE: How is moving production from New Zealand to the UK going to impact Season 2?

SANDERS: We’re going to new lands, and there are new expansive things happening in season two. And part of the benefit of being in the UK is that we’re going to be able to shoot in places that look very different than what we saw in season one. We’re able to shoot all across Europe, and we will see some of that production value on screen.

DEADLINE: What did you learn from the experience of developing and producing Season 1 that you are applying to Season 2?

SANDERS: We’ve never done anything like this. So the whole production model, how to produce a show like this, the scale work, all that were things that we needed to learn for the first time in the process of making the show. We are going to be faster. We are going to be able to put more money on screen, just in terms of the scale and scope of what we’re doing now that we know how to do it. And I also think the pace of our story is going to increase in part because the story is demanding that now that everyone’s been established, the stakes are established, that we’re going to watch some characters in some lands go to war.

DEADLINE: Speaking of war, will we see bigger battles in Season 2?

SANDERS: Yes, I can say you will see bigger battles in season two including some iconic moments from the appendices and the books.

DEADLINE: Talk about the decision to recast a main character, Adar, heading into Season 2.

SANDERS: Unfortunately it didn’t work out. And with a show that had this many series regulars and this many recurring characters, it unfortunately happened. Joseph was tremendous and gave an incredible performance. We’re also excited about our new actor. The character of Adar in Season 2 has some really exciting dynamic things to play so I’m telling them to stay tuned.

DEADLINE: From the Season 2 cast addition announcements so far it appears that you are continuing to bring diversity to Middle-earth. Can you speak about that and tease more familiar characters from the lore that we can expect?

SANDERS: The series continues to be cast from all around the world. We think that represents the show that we created in Season 1, and we’re doing the same thing for Season Two, we are trying to find the best actor for the role.

We’ve already announced that there’ll be some characters from the lore. I don’t think we’ve announced all of them, so there are surprises to come. I think the fans will be really delighted.

***

Beyond The Rings of Power, Sanders also addressed the recent series of restructurings of Amazon Studios’ TV operation and of MGM TV’s scripted division, which he now also oversees. At Amazon Studios, he formed three creative development teams led by Laura Lancaster, Nick Pepper and Lauren Anderson; at MGM TV, and he created new roles for Lindsay Sloane and Rola Bauer.

“It’s been in the works for a while, and because of the MGM pieces we weren’t able to announce it all at once,” Sanders said. “We have an ambitious agenda, we are trying to launch a big moment at least once a month if not more on Prime Video. It’s The Boys, Lord of the Rings, it’s Jack Ryan, Reacher and Alex Cross, it’s Daisy Jones and the Six, so what it takes to mount the shows that are as close of global events as possible is massive. As the needs grew, we went from being in a position, we’ll do that six times a year, and now it’s more than double. We needed to adjust our structure in order for us to have the best shot at achieving as much content.

“Beyond those tentpole pieces, we have dozens of other series that we’re doing. We are launching content and managing, managing a great slate for Freevee and we have MGM+ coming into the fold. So really what we’re trying to do is set up teams, so we have many great options possible, and no teams have gotten under water with having to maintain that much first-season content along with taking pitches all day, every day from every place. I think sometimes people may not realize just how big the scope is of all of the content that we’re doing. We have Fallout, we’ve got The Peripheral. It’s ambitious, I think that’s the right word for it.”

Alongside the restructurings, several Amazon Studios TV department heads stepped down over the past two months, Marc Resteghini, Ryan Andolina & Amanda Greenblatt, all segueing to producing deals with the studio.

“Obviously as we evolve, and as people who’ve been here, both long time and short time, they want to do different things and stretch their wings,” Sanders said. “One thing I will note is that we have a lot of the people staying in the family and I think it’s because of the culture that [Amazon Studios and MGM Studios head] Jen [Salke] has built. And hopefully I’ve had some part of that but these are people who want to continue to work here and see what an incredible future we have.”

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