Rings of Power can’t make the same stupid mistake Star Wars made

The Rings of Power Season 2 is about to hit our screens, and it’s got me thinking about Star Wars, of all things.

Unless you’ve been living in the Outer Rim, you’ll know that Star Wars – once the Kyber crystal in the science fiction crown – is in a bit of an odd spot. We haven’t had a new Star Wars movie since Rise of Skywalker, and the Disney+ shows have been all over the place quality-wise. 

Disney isn’t helping matters either, as the House of Mouse seems trapped in a weird feedback loop. They put out a new show or film, and a small but vocal group of fans complain about it. Then Disney backtracks in an attempt to try and please them and unintentionally alienates the wider fan base in the process.

That’s exactly what happened with The Last Jedi, a bold and exciting sci-fi movie that dared to suggest the Skywalkers weren’t the only family in a galaxy far, far away and launched the careers of a thousand whiny Star Wars YouTubers in the process. 

A long time ago in a Middle-earth far away…

Prime Video

Disney then tried to backtrack with Rise of Skywalker. Unfortunately, in their attempt to pivot and appease internet crybabies, Disney overextended and shat itself like an overambitious gymnast who ate Taco Bell the night before a big show. 

This process has been repeated ad nauseam and has resulted in some of the most interesting stories (like The Acolyte) in the Star Wars timeline getting binned off after one season. At the same time, Dave Filoni’s reheated Rebels Season 5 ideas get to live on (I think Ahsoka sucked, and you know I’m right). But what’s this got to do with The Rings of Power Season 2?

Well, I’m glad you asked fictional reader I created to awkwardly transition from Star Wars to the Lord of the Rings. You see, Lord of the Rings is in an interesting phase; it’s starting to tell new stories outside of the established movie canon. I, for one, can’t wait to see The War of the Rohirrim, Rings of Power Season 2 looks like it will be great, and I’m intrigued by The Hunt for Gollum. 

However, the decision to tell tales of Middle-earth that fill in the gaps Tolkien left in his wider narrative risks gaining the attention of canon purists. What do I mean? Well, for some people – and this applies not just to Lord of the Rings but Star Wars, Marvel, and everything actually – the canon is all that matters. 

My precious!

Disney

These are the sort of people whose entire identity is tied up in knowing that Iron Man was actually secretly an agent of Kang, that Luke’s second lightsaber was yellow (not green), or that Gandalf came to Middle-earth on a boat, not a meteor.

It goes beyond just liking and knowing about a franchise, though. These people see the canon as an immutable text that can never be contradicted. Basically, they don’t like it when shows take creative gambles or do things because… well, this is a TV show, not a book, comic, or movie, and sometimes you’ve got to shake things up to keep viewers on the hook. 

Of course, fictional reader, who I’ve brought back for the express purpose of once again easing a transition, you might wonder how I know that these people exist. Well, it’s because I am a canon purist, or at least I can be. You see, I did not like Rings of Power Season 1 for messing with what I saw as the sacred timeline, and like a diligent member of the TVA (Oh, a Marvel metaphor, where did that come from?) I saw it as my divine duty to protect Tolkien’s works from contradiction.

Yet while The Acolyte was on and I saw a bunch of, to be frank, boring bastards whining about how “that’s not how lightsabers work” and that “this contradicts a throwaway line in a sh*t movie from 1999”, I realized what a dullard I’d been. To borrow a clumsy image from Lord of the Rings, my attachment to Tolkien’s canon had turned me into a Gollum-like creature obsessed with hoarding my precious knowledge like some weird Lore junkie.

No, if The Acolyte debacle taught me anything, it’s that we cannot let the stupid decision to let what’s canon or a sense of nostalgia get in the way of telling new stories; we can respect the past while still moving forward. More than that, we have to; otherwise, we’ll be stuck watching remakes for the rest of our lives.

Anyway, if you want to know more about what’s cooking at the House of Mouse, we have articles on Andor Season 2 and the upcoming Skeleton Crew. We’ve also cast our eye into the far future to bring you everything you need to know about Star Wars: New Jedi Order.