New interview with showrunners

[Eldy]

Yeah, I'm hopeful that in the future they won't wait as long to start filming on the next season. It might also be that they wanted the cast to have more time for the globe-trotting press junket.

I wonder sometimes if they really will stick to the five-season plan they reportedly have. I hope that Amazon doesn't decide to stretch the show out for purely commercial reasons if that means sacrificing a coherent ending, but on the other hand, rushing to get to the finish line isn't great, either. And given that we almost certainly won't see any Rings of Power in The Rings of Power until season 2, they presumably still have a lot of story to tell.