Rings of Power Season 3 Is Here, and Critics Say It Finally Hits Its Stride
Five years later, and Sauron still hasn't learned to knock.
Middle-earth is back on Prime Video. The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power Season 3 premiered on November 11 with its first four episodes, and the early reviews are the strongest the show has had so far. The season sits at 79% on Rotten Tomatoes, according to the site's first reviews roundup.
This season jumps five years ahead in the Second Age and drops viewers into the middle of Sauron's war on the Elves. It's also the season where the One Ring finally gets made, which we covered when the showrunners talked about the long road to forging it.
What are critics saying about Rings of Power Season 3?
Most critics say the show is more focused and more cinematic this time. Nerdist called it "the best season of the show so far," and Radio Times said "it finally feels as though the series is hitting its stride."
The praise isn't universal. Polygon said "the sections in Númenor remain the worst part of the series," and a few reviewers still think the lore-heavy plotting slows the season down. Charlie Vickers gets the most love as Sauron, with Nerdist saying he "absolutely crushes it."
When do new Rings of Power episodes come out?
Season 3 has eight episodes, and Prime Video is releasing them in three drops, according to the season's release schedule. Episodes 1 to 4 arrived on November 11, episodes 5 and 6 arrive on November 18, and the last two episodes land on November 25.
That means the whole season wraps up before December, which is a lot faster than the weekly releases from the first two seasons.
Who is new in Season 3?
The biggest addition is Jamie Campbell Bower as Celeborn, Galadriel's husband, who joins as a series regular. Bower is best known as Vecna in Stranger Things, so fans already know he can handle a role with a lot of history behind it. Daniel Weyman is also back as Gandalf.
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My read is that this is the season Rings of Power had to get right, and it sounds like it mostly did. Forging the One Ring is the moment the whole show has been building toward, and a five-year jump into open war gives the story the urgency it was missing. If Númenor is still dragging, that's a problem the show can live with for now. (We'll be skipping straight to the Sauron scenes. No regrets.)
Are you watching Rings of Power Season 3? Tell us in the comments.
