Jeff Bezos Is Glad The Lord Of The Rings: The Rings Of Power Ended Up Ignoring His Advice

Amazon is one of the biggest companies on the planet, and founder Jeff Bezos is at the very top of the food chain, making him a very busy man. Prime Video, the company's streaming service, is but one part of a gigantic, all-encompassing business that offers everything from delivering toilet paper to web-based solutions for other businesses. This to say, it's hard to imagine that Bezos would take a lot of time out of his day for one show coming to Prime Video, but "The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power" isn't just any show — it's going to be the most expensive show ever made.

Bezos recently attended the U.K. premiere for the first two episodes of the show and had some nice things to say about showrunners Patrick McKay and John D. Payne who, prior to this massive undertaking, had relatively few credits in the industry. Given that this was such an important show, Bezos did indeed have some input for McKay and Payne – but they didn't always listen. As reported by Variety, Bezos said the following in a speech at the premiere:

"Every showrunner's dream – and I mean every showrunner – their dream is to get notes on scripts and early cuts from the founder and executive chairman. They loved that. I need to thank you both for listening whenever it helped but mostly I need to thank you for ignoring me at exactly the right times."

It's quite bold for a couple of guys with few credits spending nearly $60 million per episode of TV to ignore a guy like Bezos. But, based on the early buzz for the series, they made the right call.

Bezos (rightfully) understands that this is not just some show: this is "Lord of the Rings." Not only are J.R.R. Tolkien's works are some of the most beloved fantasy texts to date, but Peter Jackson's movies made it tough for anyone to waltz into this universe and break new ground. Bezos had some motivation not to screw this up living under his own roof, as his kids implored him not to f*** this up.

"My kids have become Tolkien fans as well. In fact one of my boys I think approaches the level of a Tolkien scholar he knows so much about this universe. And after Amazon got involved in this project, my son came up to me one day, he looked me in the eyes, very sincerely, and he said: 'Dad, please don't eff this up.' And he was right. We know that this world is important to so many people, we know it's a privilege to work inside this world and we know it's a big responsibility."

The show's massive cast includes Cynthia Addai-Robinson, Robert Aramayo, Owain Arthur, Maxim Baldry, Ian Blackburn, Nazanin Boniadi, Beau Cassidy, Kip Chapman, and Morfydd Clark, among many others. Wayne Che Yip ("Utopia"), J.A. Bayona ("Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom"), and Charlotte Brändström ("Jupiter's Legacy") directed the series.

"Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power" premieres September 2, 2022 on Amazon Prime Video.