After a two-year wait, The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power will soon be back with its third season. And with exciting new developments regarding the franchise’s most enduring villain, it’s set to be the biggest instalment yet.
Based on JRR Tolkien’s classic collection of novels, the Prime Video series is set thousands of years before the journey of Frodo Baggins, with much of the action taking place during Middle-earth’s Second Age.
Featuring Elves, Dwarves, Men, Harfoots and Orcs as well as several other creatures, the popular fantasy saga is leading up to the moment that sets the wider story into motion – but what else do we know about the third season?
Rings of Power season 3 release date: When is the Lord of the Rings show back?
Prime Video
The epic series will return to Prime Video on 11 November, and fans are getting a treat as four episodes are being released at the same time. The next two instalments will drop a week later, while the final two parts from the season will come on 25 November.
Rings of Power season 3 plot: What will happen?
Prime Video
Naturally, some plot specifics are being kept under wraps, but we do know that the third season is set five years after its predecessor. The action picks up at the height of the war between the Elves and Sauron, with the Dark Lord attempting to dominate Middle-earth.
To do that, he attempts to create a ring that would give him an extraordinary degree of power, with showrunners JD Payne and Patrick McKay already confirming that the forging of the One will occur in the upcoming season.
“This is the season where Sauron makes the One Ring in the volcano,” said McKay back in July, with Payne adding: “We have a full-on villain this season, in a way that was quite different before. This third season is darker, more dangerous. No-one is safe.”
“The first two seasons were all about building out this world. But throughout that time, we’re lighting all these fuses and setting all these stories in motion. The third season is when all those bombs are starting to explode,” added McKay.
Rings of Power season 3 cast: Who is new and returning?
Prime Video
There are plenty of returning cast members for the third season, with Cynthia Addai-Robinson, Robert Aramayo, Owain Arthur, Morfydd Clark, Ismael Cruz Córdova, Ben Daniels, Rory Kinnear, Charlie Vickers and Ciarán Hinds all reprising their respective roles.
We also have some new faces, with Stranger Things star Jamie Campbell Bower joining the cast as Celeborn. Simon Pegg will provide the voice for the Balrog, while Eddie Marsan has been cast in a mystery recurring role.
Rings of Power season 3 trailer
Prime Video
With the season premiere just under a month away, Prime Video unveiled the full-length trailer (which can be watched above) for the third season earlier this week, with the final shot showing Vickers’s Sauron placing the One Ring on his finger.
The actor had previously shared that filming the pivotal sequence took a couple of weeks, recalling: The first day I walked onto that set, I cried. What an amazing privilege and honour to be able to tell that story.”
“We were doing the Ring across two weeks, because the sequence is so long,” he added, while McKay said that it was the “single most ambitious, technically challenging sequence we’ve ever done on the show”.
The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power season 3 premieres on Prime Video on 11 November.
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Reporter, Digital Spy George is a freelance writer who specialises in Movies and TV. After graduating with a degree in Film Studies and Journalism from De Montfort University, in which he analysed the early works of Richard Linklater for his dissertation, he wrote for several websites for GRV Media. His film tastes vary from blockbusters like Mission: Impossible and John Wick to international directors such as Paolo Sorrentino and Hirokazu Kore-eda, and has attended both the London and Berlin film festivals.