25 million watch Catalan director's 'The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power'

Only two episodes of Amazon Prime's 'The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power' – both of which were directed and executive produced by Barcelona native JA Bayona – have been released.

But two episodes have been more than enough to prove the show, which debuted on September 2 and has been dubbed into Catalan, Galician and almost 30 other languages, is a global hit: 25 million viewers in the first 24 hours have made it, according to Amazon, "the most watched series premiere" on the streaming platform.

25 million global viewers in the first 24 hours. Thank you for making #TheRingsOfPower the most watched series premiere on @PrimeVideo. pic.twitter.com/HeKCVNn5hx

— The Lord of the Rings on Prime (@LOTRonPrime) September 3, 2022

Not like the Jackson movies

"I didn't know if the show would be the same as the movies, which I was not interested in doing," Bayona said on Monday in an interview with RAC 1's Jordi Basté, recounting an initial meeting with showrunners. 

"But what they told me interested me," the Cinema and Audiovisual School of Catalonia alumni and mastermind behind 'The Orphanage' and 'Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom' said. 

Unlike the movies, the 'The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power' explores J. R. R. Tolkien's Second Age of Middle-earth's history, thousands of years before 'The Hobbit' and 'The Lord of the Rings' are set.

"Tolkien created mythology the same way the Greeks created their own mythology," he said. "Peter Jackson's films are set in the Third Age while this is the second one."

€900m budget

'The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power' is one of the most expensive shows ever, with an estimated budget of around €900 m for the first two seasons.

"It is not an exorbitant budget for the work you have to do," Bayona reasoned, adding that some scenes had been scrapped or filmed with simpler shots for lack of funds.

And although Bayona only directed the first two episodes, he left his imprint on the entire season as he was very much involved in the 10-month casting process in New Zealand: "The actors are the ones I said I liked."

As to whether he will be back for future seasons, the Catalan moviemaker steered clear of giving a definite answer: "I'm directing other movies at the moment."

New episodes are out every Friday on Amazon Prime.