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Some good news for you Tolkien fans: Prime Video‘s The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power will make its debut later this year.

The next installment of Amazon‘s high-budget smash-hit had been rumored to arrive in 2027, but a source close to production tells The Hollywood Reporter it’ll be a little sooner than that.

The show, an enormous success for the streaming platform with around 170 million viewers worldwide and a major driver of Prime membership signups, is set to execute a pretty chunky time jump in season three.

The official plot synopsis reads: “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.”

We last visited J.R.R. Tolkien’s Middle-earth in October 2024 (when the season two finale hit Prime Video), making it another two-year gap between seasons. The War of the Elves occurs before the clash seen in the prologue of Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings films, known as the War of the Last Alliance.

Returning cast members for Rings of Power include Charlie Vickers as Sauron, Morfydd Clark as Galadriel and Robert Aramayo as Elrond. Among the recently announced newcomers are Stranger Things‘ Jamie Campbell Bower, Ray Donovan‘s Eddie Marsan, as well as Andrew Richardson, Zubin Varla and Adam Young, whose exact roles are not yet known.

Showrunners and executive producers J.D. Payne and Patrick McKay had teased to THR their season three plans ahead of the season two premiere, telling us: “We’re working on it. We’re cooking. Let us cook!” The official renewal came in February 2025, with production underway at the U.K.’s Shepperton Studios soon after.

Payne and McKay are joined by EPs Lindsey Weber, Justin Doble, Kate Hazell and executive producer-director Charlotte Brandstrom. Matthew Penry-Davey is producer and Ally O’Leary, Tim Keene and Andrew Lee are co-producers.