Fans Rally to Bring Jackson into Rings of Power, But Can He Actually Fix It?
By now it is obvious that Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power fell short of the expectations, despite its massive budget.
It is disputable whether the series has flopped outright, but it was certainly received poorly by the majority of the fans and on most discussion platforms across the web. Some people even went as far as to make a petition on Change.org, urging Amazon to give the series to Peter Jackson, the acclaimed director of the Lord of the Rings movie trilogy, so that he can salvage the subsequent seasons.
Of course, even among Tolkien's books fans, who are especially embittered by The Rings of Power 's treatment of their favorite fantasy universe, the majority recognizes that such petition is not going to accomplish anything.
Even if, by some miracle, the petition gains real momentum, and then, by some even greater miracle, Amazon listens to it, what would come out if it? Can Peter Jackson change The Rings of Power for the better, after its first season has already set in stone so much plot and characterization?
The realistic answer is that no, he probably can't.
In fact, Jackson already had an experience like this, and the results were not encouraging. He took over the Hobbit movie trilogy from Guillermo del Toro in the relatively early stage of the development, before actual filming even began. But that trilogy is widely considered to be subpar, compared to Jackson's work on the Lord of the Rings.
While some dubious creative decisions undoubtedly came from Jackson himself, time constraints and studio pressure (which resulted in making three movies, instead of two) also almost certainly played a major role. And that happened when Jackson took over a project in its relatively early stage, from a director who was in communication with him earlier.
It is certainly possible that Jackson can make a better job that The Rings of Power's current showrunners. That is, frankly, not a very high bar. But seriously improving the series at this point, without scrapping it and starting pretty much from scratch – which Amazon is not going to approve – will require yet another miracle. Peter Jackson is a talented director, but he's no wizard.