Rings of Power Season 3: Everything We Know

The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power season 3 starts on Prime Video on Wednesday 11 November 2026 with four episodes, and the eight-episode run finishes on 25 November. The story jumps forward five years from the fall of Eregion. By then Sauron’s armies have taken most of Middle-earth and he is working on the One Ring inside a finished Barad-dûr.

It’s the first season to come out in full within a fortnight, and it introduces Celeborn, Thrain and a Balrog with a voice.

Rings of Power season 3 lands on 11 November with four episodes

Four episodes open the season, then two more follow on each of the next two Wednesdays.

Seasons 1 and 2, all 16 episodes, are already streaming on Prime Video in more than 240 countries and territories.

Five years on, Sauron has nearly won

The new episodes pick up five years after Eregion fell. According to Amazon’s synopsis, Sauron’s armies have marched across most of Middle-earth. Only a few places still hold out: Khazad-dûm, where the Dwarves have sealed themselves inside their mountain halls, and the Elven lands of Lindon and Rivendell, protected by the Three Rings.

Sauron, meanwhile, sits in his newly completed tower of Barad-dûr, obsessed with mastering a power that would bring his remaining enemies to their knees. According to Amazon’s trailer announcement, the forging of the One Ring is approaching.

The trailer shows the Nazgnagôl patrolling in black armour while the Elves hold the front line. Family ties are fraying among the Dwarves of Khazad-dûm. Númenor sits on the edge of civil war, and Gandalf is out in the eastern lands of Rhûn trying to hold back the dark.

Showrunners J.D. Payne and Patrick McKay are back, with episodes directed by Charlotte Brändström, Sanaa Hamri and Stefan Schwartz.

Catching up on seasons 1 and 2

Spoilers for seasons 1 and 2 follow.

In season 1, Sauron was hiding as Halbrand, a man Galadriel rescued at sea. Under that name he helped push the Elven smith Celebrimbor towards making the Three Rings, and the season ended with them forged and his identity revealed. Prime Video’s season 2 page also carries an official three-minute recap of season 1.

Season 2 brought Sauron back to Eregion as Annatar, a fair-faced emissary who talked Celebrimbor into forging rings for Dwarves and Men. The finale, as TechRadar’s breakdown sets out, killed off three main characters. King Durin III was killed by the Balrog he woke beneath Khazad-dûm, Sauron killed Celebrimbor, and Adar was stabbed by his own Orcs. Eregion fell. According to Cosmopolitan’s recap, Gil-galad, Elrond and Arondir rescued Galadriel, and the surviving Elves ended the season in the valley that becomes Rivendell.

Elsewhere, the Stranger finally learned his name: Gandalf. In Númenor, Pharazôn declared the Faithful traitors, Míriel and Elendil included, and seized power. Míriel stayed behind to face his court, but first handed Elendil the sword Narsil and sent him away.

Celeborn arrives, and the Balrog speaks

The biggest addition is Celeborn, Galadriel’s husband, played by Jamie Campbell Bower of Stranger Things. In Billboard, composer Bear McCreary calls this season a love story between the two. That story is also the subject of the new AURORA and Bear McCreary song, Morning Shall Come.

The new cast was confirmed at and just before San Diego Comic-Con in July, according to Gizmodo:

According to TV Insider, the Balrog has never spoken in a Tolkien adaptation before, and this is the same creature Durin III woke at the end of season 2.

Season 2 narrowed the gap with audiences

On Rotten Tomatoes, season 1 split hard: 83% from critics but 38% from the audience score, according to Slash Film at the time season 2 launched. Season 2 currently sits at 85% from critics and 58% from audiences, a gap that has narrowed by a long way.

The site’s critics consensus says season 2 “discovers new virtues while retaining some of its predecessor’s vices”. Yahoo TV summed up NPR critic Glen Weldon’s review as fun but frustrating. Looper’s round-up of reviews has critics praising the higher stakes while still flagging the pacing and focus problems carried over from season 1.

Trailers and the soundtrack

The official season 3 trailer landed on 21 October and features Galadriel’s line, “All of it has come to this.”

The 22-track soundtrack album, again composed by Bear McCreary, is out digitally on 13 November, two days after the premiere.

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