The first four episodes of The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power season 3 are now on Prime Video. The other four arrive in pairs on Nov. 18 and Nov. 25. That puts the finale on the Wednesday before Thanksgiving, two weeks after the Nov. 11 premiere.
The series returns to Middle-earth five years after the fall of Eregion. Charlie Vickers is still Sauron, and Morfydd Clark is back as Galadriel. Jamie Campbell Bower joins the cast as Celeborn, Galadriel’s long-missing husband. The new season brings the story closer to the event that connects the prequel to the later books and films: Sauron forging the One Ring.
When the new episodes arrive
Amazon’s U.S. release schedule lists three dates for the eight episodes:
- Nov. 11: Episodes 1 through 4, available now.
- Nov. 18: Episodes 5 and 6.
- Nov. 25: Episodes 7 and 8, including the finale.
The series streams exclusively on Prime Video. All 16 episodes of the first two seasons are available there, too. Amazon lists U.S. Prime at $14.99 a month or $139 a year, with Prime Video included. A single monthly Prime billing period started now covers all three scheduled releases. If you already have Prime and want to watch the season in one stretch, all eight episodes are due to be available on Nov. 25. The official season 3 trailer gives a look at the war and the new characters.
What to remember about Sauron
The last season showed how Sauron got the Elves to help make the rings. He presented himself to the smith Celebrimbor as Annatar, an emissary who could teach him how to make more powerful objects. Celebrimbor learned who he was too late. By the time Eregion fell, Sauron had killed him and the city lay in ruins.
Amazon’s character recap says the new season finds Sauron established in Mordor and still trying to finish the One Ring. Celebrimbor’s knowledge remains important to the work. That brings Celeborn into the story: Amazon says he may know something Sauron needs. The casting also gives Galadriel’s story a more personal stake. She has spent the series confronting Sauron’s return, and her husband’s reappearance puts their family history alongside that war.
The show takes place in Tolkien’s Second Age, thousands of years before Frodo’s journey in The Lord of the Rings. Gandalf is here, played by Daniel Weyman, but the immediate story belongs to the kingdoms and people who stood in Sauron’s way before the Ring passed into the hands of the hobbits.
The Elves, Dwarves and Númenor after the time jump
Benjamin Walker returns as Gil-galad, the Elven high king. The three Elven rings protect Lindon and Rivendell as Sauron’s armies spread, according to Prime Video’s synopsis. Galadriel and Robert Aramayo’s Elrond are among the returning Elves. The Dwarves have sealed themselves inside Khazad-dûm, where Owain Arthur and Sophia Nomvete are back as Durin IV and Disa. Simon Pegg joins as the voice of the Balrog.
Númenor’s story brings back Cynthia Addai-Robinson as Míriel and Lloyd Owen as Elendil. Andrew Richardson joins as Anárion, Elendil’s younger son and Isildur’s brother. Viewers who remember the name Isildur from the films will recognize a connection to the Ring’s later history. The island’s struggle over who will rule it, and whether its people will oppose Sauron, is still unfolding in the series.
The second-season finale is a useful place to pick up the thread before watching the new episodes. It covers both the fall of Eregion and the Elves’ retreat to a valley that becomes Rivendell. It also confirms the identity of the Stranger, whom Weyman had played without a name. The third season begins with those stories out in the open and the war already well under way.
