For Season 3’s The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power, it’s all about love and utter destruction in the time of war.
During a Friday panel at Comic-Con, Prime Video debuted a new trailer that highlighted the encroaching doom the heroes and warriors of Middle-earth are to face.
Starting with the shouldering embers and blackened lands of Mordor, the trailer starts with the voice of Sauron (Charlie Vickers) as he says to his henchmen “Now, is the mighty hour come,” as molten metal is poured into a rather familiar ring-shaped mould. It then cuts to a happier Galadriel (Morfydd Clark) as she dances with Celeborn (Jamie Campbell Bower), an Elf Prince introduced as her new love interest in Season 3 who also happens to be canonically tied to her in Tolkien lore as her husband.
In another scene, an orc then says to Arondir (Ismael Cruz Córdova) what all the warriors of Middle-earth and beyond have feared: that the Dark Lord “is on the brink of crafting … one ring to rule them all.” Through a series of cuts the trailer weaves the dread of new formidable foes from dragons, Ringwraiths with torches to the mysterious and powerful Dark Wizard (Ciarán Hinds) while a voice-over reveals that Sauron has “armies scaring Middle-earth.”
In Season 2, it was revealed that the amnesiac man with strong magic known as The Stranger, who followed the two Harfoots, Nori Brandyfoot (Markella Kavenagh) and Poppy Proudfellow (Megan Richards) around on their journey, was Gandalf the Grey (Daniel Weyman). A man of few words then seems to have now embraced his newfound identity in the trailer, as he warns someone (or someones) off-screen about the harsh realities of “death” as a result of entering the impending fight to keep Middle-earth from corruption and falling into ruin.
Meanwhile, it seems that trouble has finally caught up with Prince Durin (Owain Arthur) and his wife Disa (Sophia Nomvete), who in Season 2 discovered that their territory within the Khazad-dûm mines contain precious metal mithril. The Season 3 trailer suggests that because of mithril’s highly sought out beauty and everlasting durability (described as untarnishable material stronger than steel), word might have spread to the surrounding lands about the Dwarven kingdom’s treasure mine. Though Prince Durin wields his axes and rares for a fight, it’s a wonder how Season 3 will depict the mithril mines, considering that this canonically leads to the downfall of his kingdom in the Second Age by the time the Lord of the Rings trilogy comes to fruition.
The trailer then crescendos around the words of Sauron: “The shadow rises in Middle-earth,” he says as a battle-ready Galadriel swings her sword at enemies, and he is shown to be successful in forging the iconic ring. “How would you like to rise with it?”
The Hall H panel also revealed that Season 3 will take place several years after the events of Season 2 at the height of the War of the Elves and Sauron. (In the trailer, it’s interesting to note that Celeborn is seemingly apt to join Galadriel and Arondir into the battle. What exactly has he learned about the dark forces why he was away on his unknown journey?) However, as the Dark Lord seemingly succeeds at crafting the One Ring that will turn the tides of war in his favor and subjugate all of the realm to his whims and darkest desires, who will be able to stop him from ruling all of Middle-earth, at last?
Other surprises included the announcement of new characters: Simon Pegg as the voice of the Balrog, Thrain (Eddie Marsan) of Dwarven royalty and descendant of The Hobbit‘s Thorin Oakenshield (Richard Armitage), Anarion (Andrew Richardson) a king of Gondor, a Ringwraith named Khamûl the Easterling (Zubin Varla) and an original character named Marnûkh (Adam Young).
In addition to Arthur, Cordova, Vickers, Weyman and Bower, Cynthia Addai-Robinson who plays Queen Tar-Miriel joined today’s panel.
Prime Video also confirmed that the third season will premiere November 11, 2026. The series, which has attracted over 185 million viewers worldwide, continues to be one of Amazon’s strongest drivers for new Prime membership signups.
