News about the imminent return of any epic fantasy series would doubtless be a precious thing, but news about the imminent return of The Lord Of The Rings: The Rings Of Power‘s return? Well, that is a most precious, precioussss thing, indeed. And it’s exactly what we’ve got for you. Following teases late last year of Sauron’s return and Elendil wielding Narsil in the next chapter of Prime Video’s billion-dollar Rings prequel, today Amazon announced at its annual Upfront event that The Rings Of Power Season 3 is coming this year: 11 November, 2026 to be precise. And they even gave us our first official photo of the upcoming season — check it out below;
Raven-black hair. Morgoth’s crown. The glow of a forge’s flame. The side-profile of one Charlie Vickers. If we didn’t know any better, we may be given to suspect that we’re about to see the Dark Lord Sauron dabbling in another spot of ringmaking in the next season of The Rings Of Power. Luckily for us, we do know better, because there’s a full-on synopsis already out there that confirms our suspicions quite emphatically. It reads as follows: “Jumping forward several years from the events of Season Two, Season Three takes place at the height of the War of the Elves and Sauron, as the Dark Lord seeks to craft the One Ring that will give him the edge he needs to win the war, bind all peoples to his will – and at last rule all Middle-earth.” That’ll be a yikes from us! (And a yikes for Sauron if he happens to read The Lord Of The Rings before The Rings Of Power finishes…)
While it’s a smidge too soon for a full cast list or trailer for The Rings Of Power Season 3 just yet (July’s San Diego Comic Con may be a reasonable shout for one or both of those), we have already learned of a few stars heading to Middle-earth as J.D. Payne and Patrick McKay’s prequel series barrels towards the Last Alliance of Elves and Men. Stranger Things‘ Vecna, Jamie Campbell Bower, and Supacell star Eddie Marsan are both joining the cast, with the former expected to play “a handsome high-born knight” and the latter ‘a Scottish-accented character with a brother.’ (Yes, leading theories still favour Bower playing either Galadriel’s as-yet-unseen husband Celeborn or uber-powerful elf Glorfindel, while Marsan seems a shoo-in to rock up as Durin’s oft-mentioned brother and advance his claim to Khazad-dûm.)
With The Rings Of Power having really gone its own way over the course of a both figuratively and literally very heavy metal second season, it’ll be fascinating to see how Payne and McKay up the ante with Season 3. And we don’t need a palantir to do that at this point. 11 November, 2026 we’re heading back to Middle-earth, precious.
