Why ‘The Two Towers’ and ‘Return of the King’ Won’t Be Coming to Netflix US

·

Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers – Copyright Warner Brothers

If you’re looking for when The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers or The Return of the King will be added to Netflix, you’re going to be disappointed. The two sequels to The Fellowship of the Ring have a new streaming provider and it’s not Netflix.

One of the most frustrating things when it comes to Netflix, and streaming providers as a whole for that matter, is services’ inability to secure complete film collections. We’ve seen it on Netflix before where they’ve secured individual films like The Matrix but then failed to get its sequels.

That has been the case for the majority of 2018 with The Lord of the Rings and looks like it won’t change. The two sequels have a new streaming home at Starz.

Where are the movies streaming?

The Fellowship of the Ring remains exclusive to streaming on Netflix, Starz having not picked up the rights. Hulu held the rights to the two extra movies before it changed hands in early fall 2018.

You do need a separate Starz subscription to watch on-demand through it streaming application. As you can see in the screenshot below, the movie is due to air on Starz Encore HD next on November 22nd.

It’s not clear how long Starz will hold onto the movies nor how long Netflix will hang onto The Fellowship.

Why aren’t the movies bundled when licensed?

This is a great question. Ultimately, that’s only for New Line Cinema to answer. Films are often dealt with individually and streaming providers, like Netflix, have to bid on them to get them so they are available for streaming.

Other regions are luckier with The Lord of the Rings, however. Earlier this month Netflix UK managed to get all three movies added.


Will you be jumping into a Starz subscription to watch the other two Lord of the Rings movies? Perhaps you’re old school and own the DVDs or Blu-rays? Let us know in the comments.

Author What's on Netflix avatar

Founder of What's on Netflix and based in Norwich in the United Kingdom, Kasey has been tracking the comings and goings of the Netflix library for a decade having started the site in 2013. Kasey maintains the what's new library, keeps the coming soon lists up-to-date and writes about new and upcoming Netflix movies, series and games.