The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power officially renewed for season 3!

It's official: Prime Video has renewed The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power for a third season. We'll be returning to Middle-earth to see what's next for Galadriel, Sauron, the Nûmenoreans, and all the rest.

While the streamer had laid out a five-season plan for the series right from the start, they've been strangely cagey about announcing an official renewal for season 3, leading many fans to speculate about whether the show was in trouble. Fortunately, The Rings of Power will indeed return for another season, so those concerns can now be laid to rest.

"The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power continues to captivate audiences worldwide, and we're thrilled that a third season is underway. The creative team has an extraordinary vision of what’s to come with stories that have left us enchanted and enthralled,” said Vernon Sanders, head of television at Amazon MGM Studios, in a press release. “We look forward to continuing this epic journey, for our global customers, delving even deeper into the legendary tales that shaped Middle-earth.”

Amazon also confirmed the directors who will be involved with season 3. Charlotte Brändström and Sanaa Hamri, two of the directors who worked on season 2, will return for the follow-up. They'll be joined by Stefan Schwartz, marking his first time working on the show. All three directors will lead multiple episodes, so it sounds like we may have the full mix here. Brändrstöm also serves as an executive producer on the series.

The Rings of Power season 2 is the "most-watched returning season" on Prime Video, according to Prime Video

The Rings of Power is one of Amazon's biggest shows, and they want us to get hyped for this announcement. Last month, a concerning report about the series came out which claimed its viewerrship was down 60% from season 1. That would be alarming for any television show, but according to Amazon's press release, "Season One remains the biggest TV premiere in the history of Prime Video and Season Two the most-watched returning season by hours watched."

Numbers are always a little dubious when they come straight from streamers; long gone are the days when we had impartial third parties reporting on viewership. These days, companies like Amazon and Netflix keep that data under lock and key, and have a habit of releasing whichever tidbits make their shows look best. Still, it's reassuring to know that The Rings of Power season 2 had a solid impact in their eyes.

As for when we'll be watching the new episodes, probably not for a few years. The Rings of Power is currently in pre-production on season 3, and is slated to begin filming in the spring at the production's new home base at Shepperton Studios in the UK. If I were a betting man, I'd guess it will premiere sometime in 2026 or even 2027.

The Rings of Power season 3 will jump forward in time

Another big announcement is that the third season of the show will jump "forward several years from the events of Season 2," taking us into the thick of the war between the elves and Sauron. This time, Sauron will be actively trying to forge the One Ring of power.

The Rings of Power is based on the appendices to J.R.R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings books, which sketch out the events of the Second Age of Middle-earth in bullet point form. So far, the show has covered relatively few of those points, filling itself out with new plotlines like the adventures of Nori the harfoot or Arondir the elf. But the second season ended with some major events drawn directly from Tolkien's mythology, like the sack of Eregion. If the third season is moving forward into the middle of the main conflict of the Second Age, we can likely expect more of that.

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