The Rings of Power Season 3 Review: ★★★☆☆ (3/5)
The Rings of Power Season 3 is bigger, darker, and more focused than before. Great fights and fun new faces help, but the pace is uneven, and the big changes to Tolkien’s story will split fans.
Rating: ★★★☆☆ (3/5)
Genre: Fantasy Drama
Language: English
Cast: Charlie Vickers, Morfydd Clark, Jamie Campbell Bower, Ismael Cruz Córdova, Sophia Nomvete, Adam Young, Daniel Weyman
Middle-earth is no longer waiting for war. In Season 3 of The Rings of Power, the war has already begun. The new episodes are streaming on Prime Video, and the show finally feels like it is heading somewhere.
The story jumps five years ahead. Eregion has fallen, and Celebrimbor is dead. Sauron, played by Charlie Vickers, no longer hides behind fake faces. He is building his army and moving closer to the One Ring. The elves are cut off and pushed back into safe corners of the map. The dwarves are hiding in their mountain home, and Númenor is torn apart by its own fight over faith and power under Pharazôn.
The five-year leap helps a lot. The earlier seasons spent a long time introducing people and places, and the story often felt scattered. Now the threads pull together, and the coming war gives them a shared purpose.
An early battle, where Galadriel is thrown from her horse and faces a terrifying ring servant, shows how weak the elves have become. Both critics agree the show feels more action-packed and less like homework.
The most talked about change is the love triangle. Jamie Campbell Bower arrives as Celeborn, Galadriel’s husband, and the show adds heat between Celeborn, Galadriel, and Sauron. Book readers will have strong views.
In Tolkien’s stories, their fight is about power and temptation, not romance. Still, it gives the season some of its most lively scenes, and Bower and Vickers have a charged chemistry. One critic also noted that a sweeping sword fight flashback adds a dose of full-blooded romance that the books never had.
Vickers is the strongest part of the season. His Sauron stays cruel and clever, but we also see small cracks in his calm face. That makes him more interesting without making him likable. Sophia Nomvete is again a delight as Disa and brings warmth and humour to the dwarf storyline.
The biggest surprise is Adam Young as Marnûkh, an orc who offers to switch sides. He is paired with Arondir on a risky mission behind enemy lines, and that pairing is a real highlight of the early episodes. Eddie Marsan also adds fun as a wild, hard-partying dwarf prince.
Not everything lands. Elendil and Isildur are moving to opposite sides of a moral fight, but the Númenor politics do not always get enough weight. The dwarf plot can feel a bit melodramatic, and Gandalf, played by Daniel Weyman, has a good setup that the writing does not fully use.
The harfoots have been pushed aside as well. Another worry is that the characters are spread so far apart that many plotlines feel closed off.
The show also keeps rewriting history. In the books, the One Ring is forged long before Eregion falls. Here the order is flipped, so the fall becomes a step toward the ring. It is a large change, but it gives the story a clear goal. Whether that pleases you depends on how much you care about the source.
The look is as grand as ever. The sets, costumes, and effects give Middle-earth real scale, and the battles feel more dangerous than in the past. Yet one reviewer put it sharply, saying the show may be too little, too late for people who are not already fans. That is a fair worry.
If you want a break from big fantasy, our Possible Love review covers a slow, uneasy Korean drama on class. For a serious true story, read our Under Siege review, and for something light and easy, try our Campus Drivers review.
The Rings of Power Season 3 is a more confident chapter, with better fights and sharper focus. It still does not always reach the heart, but it is closer than ever.
The Rings of Power Season 3 is now streaming on Prime Video.