How ‘Reacher’ Pummeled The Rest Of The Amazon Originals On Prime Video
In the end 'The Wheel of Time' and 'The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power' didn't hit like this action crime series.
Amazon Prime Video thought The Wheel of Time and The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power were the future, but Reacher proved them wrong.
In the 2010s, Game of Thrones ruled the land of television. Every network and streaming service dreamed of finding the next epic fantasy hit to rival the success of the show about dragons, zombies, and siblings who kiss each other. Amazon Prime Video put its money where its mouth is, forking out the cash for two of the most coveted fantasy IPs in literature: Robert Jordan’s The Wheel of Time and J. R. R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings. Here’s the funny part, though: Neither of these shows has been the biggest success for Prime Video. Instead, it’s Reacher – an all-action series led by Alan Ritchson based on the novels written by Lee Child.
Has Amazon Prime Video given up on ‘The Wheel of Time’?
Between The Wheel of Time and The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power, the former appears to be the more budget-friendly of the pair. While it hasn’t been officially disclosed how much was paid for the rights to adapt The Wheel of Time, the first season of the show cost a reported $140 million and the second fell in the $125 million range. The reason the first season cost so much more was due to the delays caused by the pandemic. These numbers are no different than how much it cost to make the final season of Game of Thrones – which averaged around the $15 million per episode mark in 2019 – and the quality shows in The Wheel of Time. It doesn’t look cheap.
Despite The Wheel of Time receiving positive reviews, Prime Video has never really gotten behind the series. Look at the recent release of the third season – a fart in the wind was louder than any publicity drive here. Instead, it feels as if the season has come and gone, and nobody was the wiser to it. It shows in the stats, too. Recently, Deadline published the Nielsen ratings for March 2025, and The Wheel of Time was nowhere to be found in the top 10 of streaming programs, despite Season 3 launching on March 13. Reacher was, though, at number one – with a whooping 6.6 billion minutes watched. It was 1.8 billion minutes ahead of its closest competitor Family Guy.
‘The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power’ isn’t the one show to rule them all
The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power was seen as the potential crown jewel of Prime Video. In 2017, Amazon bought the rights and committed to five seasons for a jaw-dropping $1 billion. There were no two ways about it – this was set to be the most expensive television show of all time. Prime Video didn’t rush the show either, only releasing the first season in 2022. Yet, The Rings of Power hasn’t set the world on fire – far from it. The purists don’t like how it’s deviated from the source material, and only 45% of global audiences finished the first season, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
Amazon claimed it a success, saying The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power Season 1 was the most-watched season globally as of December 2024. The same can’t be said about the second season of the show. There was a massive drop-off, though Amazon attributed that to the fact the first season’s numbers were so high to begin with. It’s unsurprising that Amazon would say that, considering how much it invested in the show, but it’s clear as day that The Rings of Power wasn’t the runaway hit that everyone thought it would be. Maybe the show thought it was flying too close to the Sun when it was actually dancing on the edge of Mount Doom.
‘Reacher’ crushes all
Then, there’s Reacher – a show about a drifter and ex-military officer who roams from town to town and beats up bad guys. It’s not exactly sword and sorcery, but there’s a special magic that keeps fans coming back for more as each season of Reacher continues to grow its fanbase. Just look at the previously mentioned numbers of how Season 3 topped the Nielsen ratings in March 2025.
While Reacher‘s budget is unconfirmed, it certainly doesn’t cost as much to produce as The Wheel of Time or The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power – unless they’re paying a whole lot of money for a fitness trainer to get Alan Ritchson looking like a beast all the time. From a financial standpoint, Reacher is the dream for any network or streaming service. There’s no need for expensive setpieces or CGI – it’s all practical for the most part – and there are several Reacher books that take place in smaller settings if the belt needs to be tightened. No wonder the show has basically turned into Prime Video’s mascot in recent times, with Ritchson’s face front and center of the marketing campaigns.
Reacher also proves that the changing landscape of television is difficult to predict. Amazon Prime Video looked at the data, believing epic fantasy was the future of television, and invested in The Wheel of Time and The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power. Regardless of how you feel about those shows, neither has had the Game of Thrones effect that Amazon wanted. On the other hand, Amazon lucked out with Reacher, which no one could have predicted to be such a major hit. It’s safe to say that there’s no formula to determine success nowadays – you just have to make good shows that resonate with people and hope for the best.
