The following contains spoilers for The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power Season 2, Episode 8, “Shadow and Flame,” now streaming on Prime Video.

The future of The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power seems to be bright, according to Jennifer Salke, head of Amazon MGM Studios. Salke told Variety, she feels “really good” about the series, which ended its second season on Oct. 3.

Salke said over 55 million people have “engaged” with the show since Season 2 launched on Aug. 29. “And if you look at the long-term trajectory, which is how this company looks at an asset like that, this is a long-term investment in that franchise. (…) There’s well over 150 million viewers watching and engaging with the show,” Salke said. “So, I feel really good. I think we all do,” she added.

When asked if there was any change to Amazon’s 50-episode commitment to The Rings of Power, Salke said, “I don’t think so. (That) commitment is never the thing that’s driving what we’re doing. We’ll continue to make the show as long as we see global customers loving and watching it to the point where – it is a business. Obviously, we need a large amount of people showing up. And there are a large amount of people, so there’s no debate about whether or not the show will continue.”

With news that Amazon MGM Studios recently bought Bray Studios, where The Rings of Power is filmed, the question is whether the series will keep filming in the U.K. for its proposed Season 3.

“No plans to move it. Very excited about it,” Salke said. Season 1 was filmed in New Zealand.

Season 2 Brought the Demise of These Characters

The Season 2 finale brought with it no shortage of drama with the deaths of key characters. The episode starts off with King Durin III (Peter Mullan) attempting to mine mithrial to the dismay of his son, Prince Durin (Owain Arthur). A confrontation ensues between the two and a Balrog appears and ultimately kills the king as he charges to it with his ax in hand.

Finale director Charlotte Brändström said in an interview with Screen Rant that she and director of photography Alex Disenhof used inspiration from Season 1 in the Season 2 finale scene where Adar meets his demise at the hands of his “children.”

“We actually mirrored something that we had done in the first season. There is a scene in Episode 6, at the end of Episode 6, there is a confrontation between Adar (Sam Hazeldine) and Galadriel (Morfydd Clark) in the barn,” Brändström said.

“It’s been quite a while, but we remember that, right? That day, we went Dutch, completely Dutch, the whole scene. So, Alex saying, ‘It would be cool to just redo the same thing and go Dutch again,” she added. “Dutch” refers to a filming technique where the camera has been rotated around the axis of the lens to show disorientation or instability in a scene.

Yet another wrenching scene is the death of the Elven smith Celebrimbor (Charles Edwards), who Sauron (Charlie Vickers) repeatedly shoots with arrows until the end.

“It was a profound day. It was, I think the last thing we filmed, because we filmed in order,” Vickers said. “And it was a big day, because it’s this real canonical bit of the book – where you fill the body with arrows and (a) really cool, huge scene with physicality and wide-ranging emotions,” he said. He added that filming the death scene was “really emotional.”

No Official Announcement Regarding Season 3

While an announcement on Season 3 has not come from Amazon as of yet, things are looking hopeful as the studio presented the show at the recent UK Upfront presentation in London.The Rings of Power is streaming on Prime Video.

Source: Variety