Aside from being potentially the most expensive television series ever made (the production commitment is estimated to be worth approximately 1 billion dollars), Amazon’s upcoming TV series “The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power” is based on the classic fantasy series written by J.R.R. Tolkien and is set to premiere on Amazon Prime Video in September. Because of licensing restrictions, it will not be a direct continuation of the “Lord of the Rings” and “The Hobbit” film trilogies. Still, it will reportedly have designs that are comparable to those of the critically acclaimed fantasy films. Despite the fact that it has not yet been released, it has garnered a tremendous amount of negative feedback from both old Tolkien fans and certain critics. Directors Patrick McKay and J.D. Payne had already taken a controversial decision during the program’s conception to condense the timeline in which the show will take place. The decision was met with mixed reactions. As in Tolkien’s novels, major events such as the forging of the Rings of Power and the destruction of Númenor will not be separated nearly as much as they are canonically. This has been described as the most significant departure from Tolkien’s original writing, and it has elicited harsh responses from fans. However, from a directing aspect, it makes sense to do so. No one wants to be forced to wait several seasons to introduce a new character or the occurrence of a key event. Choosing to concentrate on only one or two events would, in the end, bring its own set of problems in terms of the overall narrative of the show. Following the release of a preview, fans expressed dissatisfaction with the quality of the costumes, claiming that they were “ sad” for a production with a budget of over a billion dollars to have such “shoddy” designs. Another recently shown alteration is a more diversified cast, which die-hard Tolkien traditionalists have expressed dislike over. This is not the first-time fans have complained over a small addition. When director Peter Jackson opted to include a larger presence of female characters in “The Fellowship of the Ring,” several fans complained that was destroying the original material. However, Jackson stood by his decision. Even outside of the “Lord of the Rings” universe, it is extremely typical for fans to adore the original canon while disliking any significant modifications to it when it is converted to the big screen. In the end, one can only reserve judgment until they have seen the new television show before making a final decision.