Just wondering. The show seems to be in kind of an… odd state. I only watched the first episode, didn’t love it, none of my friends expressed positive feelings…
… but it’s got pretty good critical reviews, it’s getting a second season this year, and honestly it often “looks good” from promotional material.
Is it worth giving a second shot? Is anyone looking forward to the second season?
While I agree with you, you have to keep in mind that they were legally bound to use only stuff mentioned in the LotR books. So the alternative was to use existing characters or don’t use any at all. I think it would have been awkward as well if there was hardly any connection to the books.