Amazon has reportedly suspended user reviews for its big-budget The Lord of the Rings: Rings of Power series after it became the victim of 'review-bombing' just days after hitting screens.
While the highly-anticipated prequel series boasts a respectable 84 percent critics' score on Rotten Tomatoes, its audience score dramatically fell to a measly 35 percent just one day after the first two episodes were released.
It's suspected that the disparity is a result of 'review bombing', wherein users flood the show with negative reviews in an attempt to make it less popular.
An Amazon Prime source told The Hollywood Reporter that reviews on the site are being paused for 72 hours as a way to 'help weed out the trolls' and 'ensure each review is legitimate'.
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Although, the source later claimed that Prime Video kicked off the policy this summer on all its shows.
This comes hot on the heels of a backlash surrounding the show's diverse casting - including female leads and characters of colour - with some viewers insisting that J.R.R. Tolkien intended Middle-earth to be populated solely by white characters.
For instance, Ismael Cruz Córdova stars as Silvan Elf named Arondir in the series, becoming the first person of colour in the franchise to play an Elf. But some were critical of the move, saying the casting choices were politically motivated - something producers have shut down.
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"It felt only natural to us that an adaptation of Tolkien's work would reflect what the world actually looks like. Tolkien is for everyone. His stories are about his fictional races doing their best work when they leave the isolation of their own cultures and come together," explained executive producer Lindsey Weber.
Arriving almost 20 years after the last flick in the Lord of the Rings trilogy, the Rings of Power series is set thousands of years before the events in The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings and marks the most expensive show in TV history, coming in at an eye-watering estimated $715 million.
Its official synopsis reads: "Beginning in a time of relative peace, the series follows an ensemble cast of characters, both familiar and new, as they confront the long-feared re-emergence of evil to Middle-earth.
"From the darkest depths of the Misty Mountains, to the majestic forests of the elf-capital of Lindon, to the breathtaking island kingdom of Númenor, to the furthest reaches of the map, these kingdoms and characters will carve out legacies that live on long after they are gone."
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Its critical reception has got off to a promising start, with TVLine describing it as 'a gorgeously immersive and grandly ambitious spectacle, packed with stunning imagery and compelling plot threads'.
Meanwhile, The Guardian called it 'enormously enjoyable TV, a cinematic feast'.
Episodes of the show are released weekly on Prime, with the finale of the eight-episode stint set to hit screens on 14 October.
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Topics: Lord of the Rings, Amazon Prime, Entertainment, Film and TV
Chloe Rowland