Prime Video's 'Rings of Power' Season 3 Premieres With a Five-Year Time Jump

Prime Video's The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power has premiered its third season, with four of eight episodes out on Wednesday. The season opens five years into the war between elves and Sauron, as Mordor's forces have overtaken Middle-earth and move toward the elven havens of Lindon and Rivendell. Sauron, who lacks the elven smith Celebrimbor, who is dead, struggles to finish the One Ring, while Thrain arrives to claim the dwarven throne. A Dark Wizard, played by Ciarán Hinds, rules Rhûn, and Númenor is torn by civil war. The premiere includes two major character deaths.

Left-leaning coverage from Slate leads with romance, under the headline 'Amazon's Lord of the Rings Series Is Going Full Romantasy,' focusing on the 'dark romance' between Galadriel and Sauron and citing the showrunners' remarks to Nerdist. It calls writers J.D. Payne and Patrick McKay inexperienced and gives less attention to the battles and One Ring plot visible in its excerpt. Alternative coverage from /Film and The A.V. Club is distinctly plot-focused: /Film explains the two deaths and the Ringwraiths' spread, while The A.V. Club grades the premiere B and calls the season hasty. Both sides treat Sauron as the central figure but diverge sharply in emphasis. The right-leaning New York Post, whose Episode 3 recap is headlined 'Good Wizard Gone Bad,' has published on the show, but its excerpt is mostly unrelated streaming listings, so its specific claims cannot be compared.