The rumors were true: the third season of The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power is not premiering in 2027. Instead, it will be arriving on Prime Video this November.
The announcement came late yesterday with a press release reminding us of what to expect from the new episodes: “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.”
We also got a glimpse of Sauron in his new crown, cutting an appropriately sinister silhouette.
The release underlines that Rings of Power is “one of the highest-performing and most-viewed titles ever on Prime Video,” which is surely a relief to the studio considering the show’s notoriously giant budget.
Lord of the Rings is a perpetually popular IP whose famously complicated rights issues have ended up working out quite well for fans. In addition to Prime Video’s lavish streaming series focusing on the Second Age of Middle-earth, thousands of years before J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings books, we’re also getting separately produced theatrical movies that continue the legacy of Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings films.
These include Andy Serkis’ The Lord of the Rings: The Hunt for Gollum, which arrives in theaters in December 2027, and the tentatively titled The Lord of the Rings: Shadow of the Past, aka “the Stephen Colbert one,” which is still in early stages and does not yet have a release date.
In the meantime, the small screen is where it’s at. The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power returns November 11 on Prime Video.
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