The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power season 3

Starring

Supporting

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 US$100–150 million per season,^[16] and the streaming service had to give a formal greenlight to future seasons before work could begin on them.^[17] J. D. Payne and Patrick McKay were hired to develop the series in July 2018,^[18] and were named showrunners a year later.^[19] The series' title, The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power, was announced in January 2022.^[20] 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.^[21] Despite this, the showrunners intended for it to be visually consistent with the films.^[22]

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".^[23] In August 2023, the third season was included in a report of in-development projects.^[24] 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.^[25] 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.^[26] Around the second season's premiere in August 2024, Payne and McKay said they were working on the third season,^[27] and they did not have any contingency plans should Amazon choose to end the series earlier than five seasons.^[28] 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.^[29] 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".^[26][30] Amazon Studios head Jennifer Salke said there was "no debate about whether or not the show will continue",^[31] and an official renewal was reported to be coming by the end of the month.^[26]

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.^[5]

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.^[26] 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;^[32] the third season begins five years after the second 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.^[5][33] The showrunners said Sauron becomes a "full-on villain" in this season, and that changed the tone of the series to be "darker, more dangerous". They added that the third season would be paying off the stories that had been set up by the first two seasons.^[34] The third season introduces the Men who receive nine Rings of Power from Sauron and become his servants. They are eventually corrupted into the "Nazgûl" which means "Ringwraiths" in Black Speech, one of Tolkien's constructed languages. Because the season depicts them before this transformation, they are called "Nazgnagôl" which the writers derived from Tolkien's Black Speech as a translation for "Ring-servants".^[15]

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.^[35] 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,^[25] after Amazon signed a long-term deal for exclusive use of new facilities at Shepperton in February 2022.^[36] The second season was originally intended to be made at Shepperton but the expanded facilities were not ready on time.^[37] Amazon acquired Bray Film Studios in July 2024, and Salke indicated in October that the series could continue to be produced there.^[31][38] However, production on the series was confirmed to have moved to Shepperton Studios in February 2025. Pre-production was underway there by then.^[5]

Casting

Cast members who are expected to return from the previous seasons include Cynthia Addai-Robinson as Míriel,^[6] Robert Aramayo as Elrond,^[7] Owain Arthur as Durin IV,^[8] Ben Daniels as Círdan,^[14] Morfydd Clark as Galadriel,^[8] Ismael Cruz Córdova as Arondir,^[10] Trystan Gravelle as Pharazôn,^[11] Ciarán Hinds as the Dark Wizard,^[8] Will Keen as Belzagar,^{[citation needed]} Sophia Nomvete as Disa,^[8] Lloyd Owen as Elendil,^[12] Charlie Vickers as Sauron,^[13] Benjamin Walker as Gil-galad,^[11] and Daniel Weyman as Gandalf.^[13]

The first season revealed that Galadriel's husband Celeborn, who was portrayed by Marton Csokas in Jackson's films,^[9] is believed to be dead within the series' story. The showrunners explained that they made this change from Tolkien's history because they had plans to introduce different Tolkien characters each season,^[39] and confirmed in July 2024 that there was potential for Celeborn to be included in future seasons.^[40] In February 2025, Amazon announced the casting of Jamie Campbell Bower as a series regular and Eddie Marsan in a recurring role for the season. 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.^[41] There was speculation that he could be portraying Celeborn.^[9] Marsan's role, code named "Dromm", reportedly required a Scottish accent like the series' Dwarves and was said to have a brother,^[41] 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.^[42]

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".^[9] Richardson was revealed to be portraying Anarion, 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.^[2] Varla was revealed to be portraying Khamûl the Easterling, one of the Nazgnagôl;^[15] Khamûl is the one Nazgûl whose name was revealed by Tolkien.^[43] 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.^[2]

Filming

Filming was reported to be starting on April 30, 2025,^[44] and was confirmed to have begun in May,^[45] under the working title MKT.^{[3][better source needed]} Gavin Struthers and Gavin Finney were the cinematographers for Hamri and Schwartz, respectively.^{[46][4][independent source needed]} The sequence where Sauron forges the One Ring took two weeks to film and was described by the showrunners as the most ambitious and technically challenging sequence in the series.^[34] Location filming took place at the start of October on Portland Bill, a promontory on the coast of the Isle of Portland in Dorset, for a meeting between Elrond, Gil-galad, and Pharazôn. Filming specifically took place around Pulpit Rock and with a boat.^[47][48] Aramayo said filming would continue until the end of the year;^[7] it was reported to have wrapped at the end of October,^[49] and the end of production was officially confirmed in mid-December.^[50]

Visual effects

Visual effects studios for the season include Industrial Light & Magic (ILM),^[51] DNEG,^[52] Rodeo FX,^[53] and The Yard VFX.^[54] The different vendors were overseen by visual effects supervisor Jason Smith.^[51] Creatures that are depicted in the season include the Balrog, flying Fell beasts, and the Mûmakil war elephants.^[2]

Music

Composer Bear McCreary was "gearing up" for the season by early May 2025. McCreary said he was "bring[ing] everything back" from the previous seasons along with some new sounds for the franchise.^[55]