The Rings of Power Season 2 struggles to move past another TV series in viewership, which has been around for nearly two decades.

The second season of The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power has currently dropped seven of its eight episodes on Prime Video. Like the first season, the second season also received a similar critical response. While the visuals and set designs were praised, the writing and pacing were major issues for many critics. However, the viewership count is lower than that of the first season.

A still from The Rings of Power Season 2 | Credits: Prime Video

According to Nielsen, the series couldn’t even break into the top spot for the last week of August when the series premiered its first three episodes. Interestingly, the top spot went to another TV series that aired its last episode in 2017—Prison Break.

The Rings Of Power Season 2 Couldn’t Beat The Appeal Of Prison Break

The Rings of Power Season 2 | Credits: Prime Video (left); Prison Break | Credits: Fox (right)

The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power debuted its second season on Prime Video on August 29, 2024. The series is based on J.R.R. Tolkien’s novel and a spin-off (not a continuation) of Peter Jackson‘s films. The first season was released in September 2022 and received a warm response, while comparisons shared that it came nowhere close to the films.

The second season also received a similar response, however, some of the hype surrounding the series has seemed to wear off. The new season met with a lower viewership count than the first season. The Nielsen chart also showed how a TV series released years ago had more appeal and viewership than The Rings of Power in the latter’s opening week.

According to Nielsen, The Rings of Power logged in 1.015 billion minutes of viewership across all its eleven episodes during the week of August 26 to September 01 (via The Wrap). The series was ranked second on the most-watched show on Nielsen’s overall streaming list.

The series that outranked The Rings of Power happened to be Prison Break. The Fox show entered the streaming list after it was added to Netflix in July of this year. Viewers watched a total of 1.188 billion minutes of the show across Netflix and Hulu. It has been on the top of the chart for the fourth consecutive week.

The Rings of Power holds the top position when it comes to the most-watched original streaming show that week. Following Prison Break and The Lords of the Rings series in the overall streaming list is Family Guy, with 1 billion minutes viewed on Hulu.

Fox Should Reconsider Their Plans To Revive Prison Break After These Numbers

Dominic Purcell and Wentworth Miller in Prison Break | Credits: Fox

Fox was initially hesitant to greenlight the project starring Dominic Purcell and Wentworth Miller in 2003. However, when serialized shows like Lost and 24 gained popularity, Fox put Prison Break in production in 2004. The first season received universal acclaim for its first season and earned exceptional ratings.

The strong ratings continued for the subsequent seasons, despite criticisms about the show overstaying its welcome. The success of the series spawned several tie-in projects, including a video game, webisodes, and a spinoff series. The series also saw a standalone feature, titled The Final Break. After a long hiatus, Fox announced a fifth and final season for the series in 2016.

Fox announced in 2019 that it has no plans to further revive the series (via SlashFilm). But they might have to reconsider their plans after the newfound appeal for the series on Netflix and Hulu. Fans can now catch the series on these streamers while The Rings of Power is now available for streaming on Prime Video.