when I watch a series / movie I do not care too much about the writing and bad actors. My first focus is on the story. Yes, is really interesting to see what was going on before the original LOTR.

Like with Star Wars... many people are looking only to how bad Disney was putting it but they forget or ignore the whole original story. That's why many are considering Darth Vader a villain when in fact he's not, is just the balance into the force.