Amazon has released the Rings of Power trailer for season 3, and it centers on Sauron forging the One Ring inside Mount Doom. The footage debuted during a panel at San Diego Comic-Con 2026.
The trailer opens with Sauron beginning his work on the ring, declaring, “Now is the mighty hour come.” Much of the footage tracks his progress as the rest of Middle-earth tries to hold back the darkness spreading from Mordor. Other scenes show Celeborn and Galadriel reuniting, and Gandalf warning of death to come. Sauron closes the trailer with a direct line to the audience: “The shadow rises in Middle-earth, how would you like to rise with it?”
The series adapts the Second Age of Tolkien’s Middle-earth, a period covered only briefly in the appendices of The Lord of the Rings. Season 3 picks up with Sauron’s forces already in control of most of the continent, leaving the show’s remaining strongholds to make a final stand.
New cast members join the Rings of Power trailer reveal
The Comic-Con panel also confirmed several additions to the cast. Eddie Marsan will play Thrain, the older brother of King Durin IV. Andrew Richardson joins as Anarion, son of Elendil and brother of Isildur. Isildur is best remembered in Tolkien’s writing for cutting the One Ring from Sauron’s hand during the Second Age’s climactic battle. Adam Young takes on the role of Marnukh, described by the show as a mysterious Orc who “may not be what he seems.”
The Balrog speaks for the first time
The panel’s biggest reveal involves the Balrog, the fire demon that has appeared in the series without dialogue so far. Season 3 gives the creature a voice, and Simon Pegg has been cast to provide it. Details on how large a role the Balrog plays this season have not been confirmed.
The Balrog is one of Tolkien’s most recognizable creatures, popularized on screen by its confrontation with Gandalf in Peter Jackson’s The Fellowship of the Ring. Rings of Power is set centuries before that scene, giving the creature a different role in this story.
What the season 3 synopsis reveals
The official synopsis lays out the stakes for the new episodes. “Middle-earth is at war. Five years have passed since the fall of Eregion. Sauron’s armies have marched across the whole of the world, conquering all in their path.” It continues: “Only a few isolated pockets stand between the Dark Lord and total victory.” Those pockets are Khazad-dum, where the Dwarves are sealed within their mountain halls, and the elven realms of Lindon and Rivendell, protected by their Three Rings.
The synopsis adds that Sauron is working in his tower of Barad-dur. He is described as “obsessed with harnessing a power that will bring the last of his enemies to their knees.” The season frames a race against time for the Dwarves, Elves, Men, and Wizards to unite before Sauron reaches that goal.
When Rings of Power season 3 arrives
Prime Video will release the season in three batches. The first four episodes arrive on November 11, followed by episodes 5 and 6 on November 18. The final two episodes close out the season on November 25.