Rings of Power Season 3 Forges the One Ring, and It Took Three Years
One ring to rule them all. Three years to film it.
The moment Lord of the Rings fans have waited years for is almost here. Sauron officially forges the One Ring in The Rings of Power season 3, and co-showrunner Patrick McKay says the ambitious sequence took roughly three years of planning and production to bring to life (GamesRadar+).
"It's the most complex sequence we've ever done, and it's something that we've never seen before," McKay told GamesRadar+. The new season premieres on Prime Video on November 11 with four episodes released at once.
Why did the One Ring scene take so long?
McKay explained that the work started on the page, with "four pages of prose" describing everything Sauron experiences. From there, every department had ideas. They had to decide how his clothes break down during the scene, how his injuries pile up and what the magic should look like.
The filming process was incredibly demanding as well. Sauron actor Charlie Vickers was "screaming into the void" on "a partial volcano built on a stage," with lighting rigs standing in for lava explosions. McKay said the production team spent the following 52 weeks completing the visual effects, and they only finished "a few days ago."
Does the Rings of Power One Ring look like the movie version?
Mostly, yes, and that was completely intentional. Prop masters John Hajdukiewicz and Tina Jones designed the new ring, and they quickly realized it needed to be instantly recognizable to longtime fans. "Lord of the Rings fans need to be able to connect with that ring," Jones said, pointing to Peter Jackson's films.
They did make one small adjustment, though. Next to Sauron's armored gauntlet, the original size "looked quite insignificant," Hajdukiewicz said, so the team made it a bit bigger and a little rounder. In their minds, the ring should feel heavy when someone picks it up.
What else do we know about Rings of Power season 3?
GamesRadar+ has reported that the new season jumps ahead five years, which brings the story right to "the tipping point" of the coming war. The official trailers have already teased Sauron confronting a Balrog, wearing the One Ring and gathering an enormous dark army.
My read is that this is the scene that could make or break the entire season. Rings of Power has received a mixed reception from fans, but forging the One Ring is legendary Tolkien material, and it sounds like the creative team treated it with genuine care. Keeping the classic design was definitely the smart decision, too. (Bigger ring, same bad decisions.)
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