Some Amazon staffers joked that the writers of its mega-expensive 'Lord of the Rings' series should be laid off after the company cut thousands of roles

• Some Amazon staffers have joked that the "Rings of Power" writers should be laid off.
• Amazon began sweeping layoffs this week that could impact 10,000 staffers.

Amazon began laying off thousands of workers this week in cuts that could impact 10,000 corporate employees.

Some staffers that are still safe have taken to a Slack channel that includes over 7,000 employees to vent about the sweeping layoffs, Insider's Katherine Long and Ashley Stewart reported in a piece published on Tuesday.

Several of those employees have joked that the writers of Amazon's uber-expensive series, "The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power," should be laid off, Insider reported.

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The first season of the show, which concluded last month, cost $465 million to make, according to The Hollywood Reporter, on top of the $250 million Amazon spent for the rights.

Critic reviews were solid, with an 85% Rotten Tomatoes critic score, but the show was hit with poor reception from fans. It has a 39% Rotten Tomatoes audience score and a 2.5 user rating at Metacritic.

Some of that could be due to "review bombing" by racist fans who complained that people of color played some of the roles. But it's impossible to know the full extent of this trolling behavior.

Amazon has maintained that "Rings of Power" is its biggest show ever, but has also been suspiciously quiet about viewership for the series.

No press release followed its season finale; by contrast, HBO released viewership for the finale of its own fantasy series, "House of the Dragon," the next day.

Two weeks after the finale became available, Amazon finally revealed that the first season was "closing in on 100 million viewers to date" — the same stat that Amazon Studios boss Jennifer Salke had told Variety in a cover story nearly a month earlier.

So while "Rings of Power" may have been a hit by Amazon's standards, questions remain about its staying power and its ability to crack the zeitgeist in a meaningful way, which Amazon needs it to do given its hefty price tag.

And judging by the jokes in the layoffs-focused Slack channel, that seems to even be a narrative within Amazon among staffers.

Read Insider's full story on how Amazon staffers are reacting to the company's sweeping layoffs.