Rings of Power

Amazon

We are used to huge-scale shows taking eons between seasons, and there is no huger-scale production than Amazon’s The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power. Now, however, it seems that season 3 of the series is coming sooner than almost anyone thought.

Back in December, the timeline of when the show was renewed (four months after it aired, when five seasons of the show were originally supposed to be a sure thing), plus previous production and post-production time, put the release date of Rings of Power season 3 in early 2027, at best. Now, however, THR is reporting that season 3 will make it out in 2026 instead, according to its production sources.

The Rings of Power is a rollercoaster of a series for Amazon, holding the record for its best show debut ever, with 25 million viewers in one day. However, after a 2-year gap, viewership of season 2 was cut in half, likely leading to a longer debate over its renewal, as the series is one of the most expensive ever made. But season 3 is happening, and it may be able to hit close to a 2-year gap as it had previously, rather than a stretch to three years, as production initially indicated.

There’s already a synopsis for season 3, which contains a time jump:

“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 and conquer all Middle-earth at last.”

For what it’s worth, review scores stayed the same across the two seasons, and audience scores increased from “really bad” to “only sort of bad,” and anecdotally, yes, I personally thought it was an improvement. Still, this five-year plan that was originally supposed to be in place feels rather ambitious at this point, particularly if viewership keeps dropping.

Most Lord of the Rings news lately has been about the Hunt for Gollum movie, which will bring back original trilogy stars like Elijah Wood, Ian McKellen and Andy Serkis, but a point of controversy was the fact that Strider/Aragorn would now be played by 50 Shades of Grey’s Jamie Dornan. But even if fans complained that Viggo Mortensen is the only one who can be Aragorn, this is a film about a “young Aragorn,” and Mortensen is 67. Short of some uncomfortable CGI de-aging, he did need to be replaced.

It’s clear that Lord of the Rings is trying to keep its relevance alive, but obviously, nothing since the original trilogy has held a candle to it, and there’s no talk of daring to reboot that the way we’re seeing Warner Bros. do with its HBO Harry Potter series re-doing those movies. But this is Hollywood, and never say never.

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Pick up my sci-fi novels the Herokiller series and The Earthborn Trilogy.