Partings

Amazon acquired the global television rights for J. R. R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings in November 2017. The company's streaming service, Amazon Prime Video, gave a multi-season commitment to a series based on the novel and its appendices, to be produced by Amazon Studios.[1] It was later titled The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power.[2] Amazon hired J. D. Payne and Patrick McKay to develop the series and serve as showrunners in July 2018.[3][4] Justin Doble had joined the series as a writer by July 2019,[4] and Wayne Che Yip was revealed to be directing four episodes of the first season in March 2021.[5] The series is set in the Second Age of Middle-earth, thousands of years before the events of Tolkien's The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings,[6] and the first season focuses on introducing the setting and major heroic characters to the audience.[7][8] Written by Doble and directed by Yip, the fifth episode is titled "Partings".

The series' large cast includes Cynthia Addai-Robinson as Míriel,[9] Robert Aramayo as Elrond, Owain Arthur as Durin IV, Maxim Baldry as Isildur, Nazanin Boniadi as Bronwyn, Morfydd Clark as Galadriel, Ismael Cruz Córdova as Arondir, Charles Edwards as Celebrimbor,[10] Trystan Gravelle as Pharazôn,[9] Lenny Henry as Sadoc Burrows,[11] Ema Horvath as Eärien,[9] Markella Kavenagh as Elanor "Nori" Brandyfoot,[12] Tyroe Muhafidin as Theo,[13] Lloyd Owen as Elendil,[9] Megan Richards as Poppy Proudfellow,[11] Dylan Smith as Largo Brandyfoot,[14] Charlie Vickers as Halbrand,[10] Leon Wadham as Kemen,[9] Benjamin Walker as Gil-galad,[15] Daniel Weyman as the Stranger,[12] and Sara Zwangobani as Marigold Brandyfoot.[14] Also starring are Beau Cassidy as Dilly Brandyfoot, Joseph Mawle as Adar, Ian Blackburn as Rowan, Geoff Morrell as Waldreg, Peter Tait as Tredwill, Thusitha Jayasundera as Malva, Maxine Cuncliffe as Vilma, Anthony Crum as Ontamo, Alex Tarrant as Valandil, Ken Blackburn as Tar-Palantir, Edith Poor as the Nomad, Kali Kopae as the Ascetic, Bridie Sisson as the Dweller, Edward Clendon as Grugzûk, and Ella Hope-Higginson as Mairen.[16]^{: 1:07:20–1:07:31}

Amazon confirmed in September 2019 that filming for the first season would take place in New Zealand, where the Lord of the Rings and Hobbit film trilogies were made.[17] Filming primarily took place at Kumeu Film Studios and Auckland Film Studios in Auckland,[18] under the working title Untitled Amazon Project or simply UAP.[19] Production on episodes beyond the first two began in January 2021,[20][21] and Yip confirmed that he had begun filming his episodes by March.[5] Filming for the season wrapped on August 2.[22]

Visual effects for the episode were created by Industrial Light & Magic (ILM), Wētā FX, Method Studios, Rodeo FX, Cause and FX, Atomic Arts, and Cantina Creative.[23][16]^{: 1:08:57–1:09:02}

A soundtrack album featuring composer Bear McCreary's score for the episode was released on Amazon Music on September 22, 2022.[24] McCreary said the album contained "virtually every second of score" from the episode. It was added to other music streaming services after the full first season was released.[25] All music composed by Bear McCreary:[24]

Software company Whip Media, who track viewership data for the 21 million worldwide users of their TV Time app, calculated that for the week ending September 25, two days after the episode's debut, The Rings of Power was the fifth-highest original streaming series for U.S. viewership.[28] Nielsen Media Research, who record streaming viewership on U.S. television screens, estimated that the series was watched for 977 million minutes during the week ending September 25. This placed it fourth on the company's list of top streaming series and films. Fellow fantasy series House of the Dragon was third for the week, the first time it was ahead of The Rings of Power on the chart.[29] Parrot Analytics determines audience "demand expressions" based on various data sources, including social media activity and comments on rating platforms. During the week ending September 30, the company calculated that The Rings of Power was 29.3 times more in demand than the average U.S. streaming series, placing it ninth on the company's top 10 list for the week.[30]

The review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes reported a 76% approval rating with an average score of 7.1/10 based on 29 reviews. The website's critics consensus reads: "The scenery is gorgeous as ever and the nods to Tolkien lore still dense, but The Rings of Power's momentum feels stuck as a Harfoot's caravan in the mud."[31]