Prime Video Reveals Trailer for Season Three of "The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power"

During a panel held on Friday at San Diego Comic-Con, Prime Video premiered the highly anticipated trailer for The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power.

Other surprises revealed today in Hall H included the announcement of new characters: Simon Pegg as the voice of the Balrog, Eddie Marsan as Thrain, the royal dwarf and descendant of Thorin Oakenshield from The Hobbit (Richard Armitage), Andrew Richardson as Anarion, a king of Gondor, Zubin Varla as a Nazgûl named Khamûl the Eastern, and an original character named Marnûkh played by Adam Young.

The trailer, which begins with the glowing embers and blackened lands of Mordor, starts with the voice of Sauron (Charlie Vickers) telling his minions: "Now the glorious hour has come," as molten metal is poured into a rather familiar ring mold. Next, we see a happier Galadriel (Morfydd Clark) dancing with Celeborn (Jamie Campbell Bower), an elf prince introduced as her new love interest in the third season, who is also canonically linked to her in Tolkien's mythology as her husband.

In another scene, an orc tells Arondir (Ismael Cruz Córdova) what all the warriors of Middle-earth and beyond have feared: that the Dark Lord "is about to forge... a ring to rule them all." Through a series of cuts, the trailer weaves the terror of new and formidable enemies, from dragons and Nazgûl with torches to the mysterious and powerful Dark Wizard (Ciarán Hinds), while a voiceover reveals that Sauron has "armies that terrorize Middle-earth."

In the second season, it was revealed that the amnesiac man with powerful magic known as The Stranger, who followed the two Harfoots, Nori Brandyfoot (Markella Kavenagh) and Poppy Proudfellow (Megan Richards), on their journey, was Gandalf the Grey (Daniel Weyman). This man, then of few words, seems to have accepted his new identity in the trailer, where he warns someone (or several people) off-camera about the harsh realities of death as a consequence of participating in the imminent struggle to prevent Middle-earth from being corrupted and falling into ruin.

Meanwhile, it seems that troubles have finally caught up with Prince Durin (Owain Arthur) and his wife Disa (Sophia Nomvete), who in Season 2 discovered that their territory within the mines of Khazad-dûm contains the precious metal mithril. The Season 3 trailer suggests that, due to the coveted beauty and eternal durability of mithril (described as an incorruptible material stronger than steel), news about the treasure mine of the dwarf kingdom may have spread to the surrounding lands. While Prince Durin wields his rare axes and swords to fight, it remains uncertain how the mithril mines will be portrayed in Season 3, considering that this canonically leads to the fall of his kingdom in the Second Age, by the time the The Lord of the Rings trilogy unfolds.

The trailer culminates with Sauron's words: "The shadow rises in Middle-earth," he says as Galadriel, ready for battle, wields her sword against the enemies, and it shows how she manages to forge the iconic ring. "Would you like to rise with it?"

The Hall H panel also revealed that the third season will take place several years after the events of the second, at the height of the War of the Elves and Sauron.

Prime Video also confirmed that the third season will premiere on November 11, 2026.