Disappointed Lord of the Rings fans are turning off new series because they think it's too slow

Warning: Contains mild spoilers for The Rings of Power - episode three

Some Lord Of The Rings fans have been left disappointed with the 'slow' pace of Amazon Prime's new Rings of Power series after it arrived this month.

It's been years in the making, but The Rings of Power finally debuted on the streaming service at the start of September with the arrival of the first two episodes.

The build up left millions of LOTR fans desperate to get their hands on the series; to return to Middle Earth and follow both new and familiar faces, but three episodes has proved to be enough to leave some viewers fed up of waiting for action.

A number of people have taken to social media to vent their frustrations, with one person writing on Reddit: "Is anybody else EXTREMELY disappointed in the 'Ring of Power' series?"

The poster made reference to what they described as an 'array of fake, semi-fake and real English, Irish and Scottish accents involved', and said they couldn't remember the last time they'd 'switched a series off because of it being that bad'.

"And this is coming from a fan of the LOTR and Hobbit movies," they continued. "I was expecting LOTR what I got was LOTR-cum-Emmerdale. It's slow, tedious. Like watching paint dry."

Other viewers agreed, with one viewer writing: "They should just release all the episodes to binge watch. The style is there but the story is at crawling pace."

Another commented: "I watched the first one and found myself constantly zoning out."

Look. #RingsOfPower is gorgeous okay. Very beautiful. But my god why are these episodes so SLOW. I get that Tolkien is very dense plot wise. I’ve read every book (and struggled thru the Silmarillion) but this is A LOT for a TV show.

— Monique Martin (they/them) (@ohhckmo) September 11, 2022

The third episode of The Rings of Power arrived on 8 September and introduced viewers to the Númenoreans, who live on the island of Númenor.

Despite the new setting, the episode still left people wanting, with a review from Den Of Geek describing it as 'rather slow-paced and weighed down by the need for substantial amounts of exposition', while The New York Times hinted at the slow pace by writing: "This world that seemed mostly at peace is starting — very, very gradually — to see that the roots of the old alliances are rotting."

In spite of the complaints there are a lot of fans who have made clear their plans to continue the series, with many standing up for The Rings of Power and describing it as 'amazing'.

LOTR The Rings of Power is very good, started slow but episode 3 gave it nice momentum. The production value is huge and the world they're building is going to be epic.

— Giulio del Bufalo (@buffalogiu) September 11, 2022

"Well filmed and a great story so far," one fan commented. Another wrote: "I’ve not watched the most recent episode, but I found the first two engaging enough that I want to carry on watching."

There's really is only one way to find out if the series picks up speed, and that's by tuning in again when the new episode arrives.

With so much time and money invested in the project, hopefully at least some viewers will make it to the end.

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