The third season of the American fantasy television series The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power is based on J. R. R. Tolkien's history of Middle-earth, primarily material from the appendices of the novel The Lord of the Rings (1954–55). Set thousands of years before the novel in Middle-earth's Second Age, the season takes place five years after the second at the height of a war between the Elves and the Dark Lord Sauron. It depicts the latter's efforts to create the One Ring, which could give him the power to win the war and conquer all of Middle-earth. The season is produced by Amazon MGM Studios in association with New Line Cinema and with J. D. Payne and Patrick McKay as showrunners.
Amazon acquired the television rights to The Lord of the Rings in November 2017 and made a multi-season commitment for a new series. Despite speculation about the series' future, a third season was expected to be made following the second season's release in October 2024. Writing had begun by then, and the season was officially confirmed in February 2025. Filming began in the United Kingdom by that May, with Charlotte Brändström, Sanaa Hamri, and Stefan Schwartz directing. Much of the series' large international cast returned from the previous seasons, as did composer Bear McCreary. Location filming took place in the UK and in Switzerland. Filming wrapped in October 2025.
The season is set to premiere on the streaming service Amazon Prime Video on November 11, 2026, with its first four episodes. The next two episodes will be released on November 18 and the final two on November 25. __TOC__
Episodes
Brändström and Sanaa Hamri directed the other episodes.
Cast and characters
Starring
Supporting
Production
Development Amazon acquired the television rights for J. R. R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings (1954–55) in November 2017. The company's streaming service, Amazon Prime Video, gave a multi-season commitment to a series based on the novel and its appendices that was believed to be for five seasons, to be produced by Amazon MGM Studios in association with New Line Cinema and in consultation with the Tolkien Estate. The budget was expected to be around per season, and the streaming service had to give a formal greenlight to future seasons before work could begin on them. J. D. Payne and Patrick McKay were hired to develop the series in July 2018, and were named showrunners a year later. The series' title, The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power, was announced in January 2022. In August, Amazon explained that the deal with Tolkien's estate required the company to keep the series distinct from Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings (2001–2003) and The Hobbit (2012–2014) film adaptations. Despite this, the showrunners intended for it to be visually consistent with the films.
Amazon's television head Vernon Sanders said in December 2022 that the company was committed to Payne and McKay's five-season plan and months of work had already been done on the third season. He said there had not been any official announcements due to their focus on the in-production second season, but he expected the renewal to be announced in "the new year". In August 2023, the third season was included in a report of in-development projects. By February 2024, when Payne and McKay extended their overall deal with Amazon MGM Studios, the pair had started outlining the season's story. It had not yet been officially ordered and a writers' room had not been opened for it. The lack of official announcements led to speculation about the series' future among fans, especially considering the second season was ordered years before the first was released. Around the second season's premiere in August 2024, Payne and McKay said they were working on the third season, and they did not have any contingency plans should Amazon choose to end the series earlier than five seasons. In early September, Amazon was reported to be committed to the five-season plan after seeing the second season's initial viewership. This was despite a significant drop in viewership from the first season and ongoing concerns about the series' quality from some critics and viewers. By early October, when the second season finished airing, a writers' room had been opened for the third season and the showrunners said they were "deep in the writing process". Amazon Studios head Jennifer Salke said there was "no debate about whether or not the show will continue", and an official renewal was reported to be coming by the end of the month.
Prime Video officially confirmed the season in February 2025. Charlotte Brändström, Sanaa Hamri, and Stefan Schwartz were each set to direct multiple episodes. Brändström, returning from the first two seasons, was made an executive producer for the third. Hamri also worked on the second season, while Schwartz was newly hired for the third. Payne, McKay, Lindsey Weber, Justin Doble, and Kate Hazell were also executive producers.
Writing The writers' room for the season included Payne, McKay, Doble, Ben Tagoe, Ava Wong Davies, Constance Cheng, Jonathan Wilson, Griff Jones, and Sarah Anson. Their work was underway by October 2024.
The showrunners structured the series so each season would be built around several "major tentpole moments" from Tolkien's history of the Second Age of Middle-earth; the third season takes place at the height of the "War of the Elves and Sauron", and depicts the creation of the Dark Lord Sauron's One Ring which he believes will give him the power to win the war and conquer all of Middle-earth. The third season also introduces key characters from Tolkien's writings, such as Galadriel's husband Celeborn, and the Men who receive nine Rings of Power from Sauron. The latter are called "Nazgûl", which means "Ringwraiths" in Tolkien's constructed language of Black Speech, and the season shows their transition into wraiths. Before that happens, they are called "Nazgnagôl" which the writers derived from Black Speech as a translation for "Ring-servants".
The season begins with a five-year time jump from the end of the second season. The showrunners hoped this, and the opening prologue which recaps the events of the war so far, would start the third season with momentum and entice new viewers. During the time jump, the Elven realm of Rivendell and Sauron's tower Barad-dûr have both been constructed, and Sauron's Orcs have spread across Middle-earth leaving only "a few pockets of resistance": the Elven realms of Lindon and Rivendell that are protected by the Elvish Rings of Power, and the Dwarven realm of Khazad-dûm. The showrunners compared the first two seasons to the first act in a three-act story that was mostly focused on introducing characters and building out the world. With that now done, they could pay off that build up and depict key characters as fully formed. This includes Sauron, who they described as a "full-on villain" in the season; and Gandalf, who has become "the wizard we all love from Tolkien's writings". The Harfoots, who spent the first two seasons with Gandalf, were not brought back for the third season.
While Galadriel and Celeborn are together during the Second Age in Tolkien's writings, in the series Celeborn has been missing since the First Age and is believed to be dead. The showrunners explained that the appendices, which the series is primarily based on, do not include many "interesting" details about what Celeborn was doing during the Second Age. They decided to create a new story where he is imprisoned by Orcs during that time. They said the reunion between Galadriel and Celeborn in the third season was the first true love story that the series had told, and was placed during this season's war story because that felt like "the most surprising moment" for him to return. The season includes a flashback that shows when Galadriel and Celeborn first met and how his loss impacted her, before exploring how his return brings out new sides of her character.
Location In August 2022, Amazon announced that it was moving production of the series from New Zealand, where Jackson's films and the first season were made, to the United Kingdom starting with the second season. In February 2024, production for the third season was expected to be moved from Bray Film Studios in Berkshire, where the second season was filmed, to Shepperton Studios in Surrey, after Amazon signed a long-term deal for exclusive use of new facilities at Shepperton in February 2022. The second season was originally intended to be made at Shepperton but the expanded facilities were not ready on time. Amazon acquired Bray Film Studios in July 2024, and Salke indicated in October that the series could continue to be produced there. However, production on the series was confirmed to have moved to Shepperton Studios in February 2025. Pre-production was underway there by then.
Casting Cast members who returned from the previous seasons include Cynthia Addai-Robinson as Míriel, Robert Aramayo as Elrond, Owain Arthur as Durin IV, Maxim Baldry as Isildur, Morfydd Clark as Galadriel, Ismael Cruz Córdova as Arondir, Ben Daniels as Círdan, Charles Edwards as Celebrimbor, Kevin Eldon as Narvi, Trystan Gravelle as Pharazôn, Ciarán Hinds as the Dark Wizard, Ema Horvath as Eärien, Will Keen as Belzagar, Rory Kinnear as Tom Bombadil, Tyroe Muhafidin as Theo, Sophia Nomvete as Disa, Lloyd Owen as Elendil, Charlie Vickers as Sauron, Leon Wadham as Kemen, Benjamin Walker as Gil-galad, and Daniel Weyman as Gandalf. Aramayo also portrays Elrond's brother Elros in a flashback.
In February 2025, Amazon announced the casting of Jamie Campbell Bower as a series regular and Eddie Marsan in a recurring role. Bower's character was reported to be the biggest addition for the season, described as a "handsome high-born knight" with the code name "Arlen" who was potentially a new love interest for Galadriel. There was speculation that he could be portraying Celeborn, who was played by Marton Csokas in Jackson's films. Marsan's role, code named "Dromm", reportedly required a Scottish accent like the series' Dwarves and was said to have a brother, leading to speculation that he could be playing the brother of Durin IV that was mentioned at the end of the second season. Further casting was announced in June 2025 after filming began: Andrew Richardson as a series regular, with Zubin Varla and Adam Young in recurring roles. This announcement came following reports of casting for a "sea captain in his 20s" who would be a series regular for the season. Varla provided additional voice work for three episodes of the second season; it was unclear whether his new role was related to that voice work.
Roles for the previously announced cast members were revealed in July 2026, with Bower confirmed to be portraying Celeborn. Payne said they received hundreds of audition tapes for the role and chose Bower due to his "rich and hypnotic" voice as well as his chemistry with Clark, which felt "so natural, and so organic". Richardson was revealed to be portraying Anárion, the younger son of Elendil and Isildur's brother from Tolkien's writings. Marsan was confirmed to be playing Durin's brother, Thrain, and Young was cast as a mysterious Orc named Marnûkh. Varla was revealed to be portraying Khamûl the Easterling, one of the Nazgnagôl; Khamûl is the one Nazgûl whose name was revealed by Tolkien. Also in July 2026, the showrunners revealed that the Balrog would return from previous seasons and would have a speaking role for the first time. They announced that Simon Pegg had been cast to provide the creature's voice. The next month, Amber Mendez-Martin and Lee Braithwaite were announced in the roles of Gerda and Gamli, respectively, the teenage children of Durin and Disa.
Filming