Updated: September 2026
Spoiler warning: This review discusses major events from Seasons 1 and 2.
Prime Video’s The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power arrived carrying more baggage than a party of hobbits leaving the Shire. It had an enormous budget, a fiercely protected literary world, Peter Jackson’s film trilogy looming over it, and an audience ready to inspect every wig, weapon and Elvish vowel.
Two seasons in, the series remains uneven, occasionally frustrating and very easy to argue about. It is also more interesting than its harshest critics allow. Season 1 spends too long hiding information the audience can often guess. Season 2 is more confident, darker and considerably better at turning Tolkien’s history into television. When Sauron and Celebrimbor occupy the centre of the story, the show finally feels as though it knows what kind of drama it wants to be.
The short verdict is that The Rings of Power is not the definitive screen version of Tolkien’s Second Age. It is a lavish, imperfect interpretation with several superb performances, extraordinary production design and a habit of making simple journeys feel like everyone has misplaced the map.
Season 3 Release Date: November 11, 2026
The Rings of Power at a Glance
| Detail | Information |
|---|---|
| Platform | Prime Video |
| Creators | J. D. Payne and Patrick McKay |
| Setting | Middle-earth during the Second Age |
| Released so far | Two seasons, 16 episodes |
| Main focus | Sauron’s return, the forging of the Rings, Númenor and the peoples resisting him |
| Best season | Season 2 |
| Current status | Season 3 premieres on 11 November 2026 |
| Review verdict | Beautiful, flawed and steadily improving |
What Is The Rings of Power About?
Set thousands of years before The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings, the series explores the return of Sauron and the chain of choices that will eventually reshape Middle-earth. Its story stretches from the Elven kingdoms of Lindon and Eregion to Khazad-dûm, Númenor, Mordor and Rhûn.
Galadriel begins the series hunting for a threat most of her people believe has faded. Elrond tries to preserve Elven power through diplomacy with the Dwarves. Celebrimbor dreams of creating objects worthy of his grandfather Fëanor. Númenor struggles with pride, mortality and political division. Elsewhere, the Harfoot Nori encounters a mysterious Stranger who has fallen from the sky.
That is quite a lot of story. The show’s ambition is admirable, but its ensemble structure can work against it. A gripping scene in Eregion may be followed by a much slower detour elsewhere, creating the television equivalent of being pulled away from the good table at a feast because someone wants to explain their travel plans.
Season 1 Review: Spectacle Searching for a Story
Season 1 is strongest as an introduction to places. Khazad-dûm feels warm, busy and genuinely lived in. Númenor has scale, colour and a convincing sense of maritime power. Lindon is serene without becoming visually lifeless. The landscapes, costumes and music do much of the emotional work, and Bear McCreary’s score gives each culture a recognisable identity.
The central mystery is less successful. The season asks viewers to wonder which character is Sauron, placing suspicion around Halbrand, the Stranger and several convenient shadows. Yet Halbrand’s interest in smithing, talent for manipulation and sudden proximity to Celebrimbor make the reveal fairly visible. The story then spends valuable time protecting a secret rather than exploring what makes the secret compelling.
Galadriel is written as relentless, angry and frequently abrasive. Morfydd Clark commits fully to that version of the character, but the scripts do not always give her enough variation. Her grief and obsession are understandable. The problem is that other characters sometimes need to become strangely passive so she can keep pushing the plot forward.
The Southlands storyline has more immediate danger. Arondir brings a quiet physical presence, while Adar emerges as one of the series’ best original characters. His concern for the Orcs complicates the usual division between shining heroes and disposable monsters. The eruption of Mount Doom is also an effective piece of fantasy catastrophe, even if the creation of the name Mordor is revealed with all the subtlety of a presentation slide.
Season 1 ends with the forging of the Three Elven Rings. It is an important moment, but it arrives quickly after a season that has taken its time with almost everything else. That imbalance sums up the first run: astonishing craft, good performances and a story that often delays the scenes it most needs.
Season 2 Review: Sauron Takes Control
Season 2 improves because it stops treating Sauron as a guessing game. Charlie Vickers can finally play him as an active deceiver, appearing to Celebrimbor as Annatar, the supposed Lord of Gifts. The change gives the series a proper dramatic engine.
Vickers plays Sauron with restraint. He rarely needs to snarl or announce his wickedness. He observes what people want, offers the shortest path towards it, then quietly moves the walls around them. His manipulation of Celebrimbor works because it feeds the Elven smith’s pride, fear and desire to create something lasting. Sauron does not simply overpower him. He helps Celebrimbor build the trap and convinces him to admire the workmanship.
Charles Edwards gives the season’s best performance as Celebrimbor. His growing isolation, confusion and eventual recognition of the truth give the Eregion plot genuine tragedy. The Siege of Eregion provides the large-scale action expected from the series, but its emotional centre is a craftsman realising that his greatest achievement has become an instrument of tyranny.
Galadriel also benefits from being forced to confront her error. Her connection with Sauron remains dangerous, but the second season gives her more opportunities to listen, doubt and reckon with the consequences of her certainty. Elrond’s distrust of the Rings creates a useful conflict between immediate survival and long-term corruption.
The Dwarven story is similarly effective. The Ring amplifies King Durin III’s ambition and fractures his relationship with Prince Durin. Peter Mullan and Owain Arthur make that conflict feel personal rather than purely mythological. The awakening of the Balrog is spectacular, though the show has now teased that particular creature often enough. Even a Balrog risks becoming the fantasy equivalent of a colleague who keeps appearing in the doorway without entering the meeting.
Not every thread lands. Númenor’s political transformation moves too quickly for a civilisation of its importance. The Rhûn storyline contains striking scenery, Tom Bombadil and confirmation that the Stranger is Gandalf, but it often feels detached from the main drama. Naming him after such prolonged mystery produces less revelation than mild relief.
Season 2 is still crowded, but its best material is much stronger than anything in the opening season. It understands that Sauron is most frightening when he makes domination look like assistance.
Sauron and Celebrimbor Are the Heart of the Series
The most persuasive part of The Rings of Power is not a battle or a monster. It is the toxic creative partnership between Sauron and Celebrimbor.
Their scenes explore authorship, vanity and control. Celebrimbor wants to preserve beauty against decay. Sauron recognises that noble motive and poisons it without needing to replace it. This is close to Tolkien’s central idea of corruption: evil often works through an understandable desire that becomes absolute.
The series takes liberties with chronology and circumstance, but the emotional logic is strong. Celebrimbor’s fall feels tragic because he is talented, sincere and proud enough to believe he can master forces he barely understands. Frankly, this is also an excellent warning against accepting unscheduled consultancy from radiantly beautiful strangers.
Galadriel: Compelling, Difficult and Still Developing
This younger Galadriel was always going to divide viewers. She is far removed from the composed figure played by Cate Blanchett in the films, but a prequel requires room for change. A flawless, fully formed Galadriel would have nowhere to go across five planned seasons.
The writing occasionally confuses strength with permanent confrontation. Still, Clark brings conviction and an almost frightening intensity to the role. Her best scenes reveal the cost of her obsession, particularly once she understands that Sauron used her trust and ambition.
Season 2 moves her towards wisdom without sanding away her anger. That is the right direction. Galadriel should not become serene overnight simply because viewers recognise her future self. Elves may be immortal, but character development still needs to turn up eventually.
Elrond, Durin and the Show’s Best Friendship
Robert Aramayo’s Elrond and Owain Arthur’s Durin IV provide warmth that the grander plots often lack. Their friendship survives resentment, political pressure and the awkward discovery that one of them has not visited for decades. Among Elves this may count as losing track of a weekend, but Durin is understandably less relaxed about it.
Their relationship makes the alliance between Eregion and Khazad-dûm feel personal. Elrond is a diplomat who genuinely cares about Durin, while Durin must balance friendship against loyalty to his family and people. Season 2 places heavier demands on both men, especially as the Dwarven Ring changes King Durin III.
The series needs more relationships like this. Vast lore becomes meaningful when it affects people we enjoy watching together.
Númenor Has Scale but Needs More Time
Númenor should be one of the most powerful strands in the series. It is a magnificent island kingdom haunted by mortality, divided between respect for the Elves and resentment of them. The ingredients are there: Míriel’s fragile authority, Pharazôn’s populism, Elendil’s loyalty and Isildur’s uncertain path.
Visually, the kingdom is splendid. Dramatically, its political turns can feel compressed. Pharazôn’s rise and the hostility towards the Faithful require more social texture than the series currently provides. We see the major moves, but not always enough of the pressure that makes ordinary Númenóreans accept them.
This matters because Númenor is not a decorative side plot. Its fate is one of the defining tragedies of the Second Age. The third season needs to give its politics room to breathe before everything becomes rather wetter.
The Harfoots, Gandalf and Rhûn
Nori and Poppy bring kindness and humour to a story dominated by immortal anxiety. The Harfoots also connect the series to the small-scale courage associated with Tolkien’s hobbits. Their material is charming in places, though the first season spends too long withholding the Stranger’s identity.
Season 2 sends the Stranger and Nori into Rhûn, introduces the Stoors and brings in Tom Bombadil. Rory Kinnear plays Bombadil with an appealing oddness, but his use as a mentor to the Stranger feels more conventional than the elusive figure Tolkien created.
The eventual Gandalf reveal confirms what the series has signalled for a long time. Whether Gandalf should be active in Middle-earth during this part of the Second Age is a fair lore objection. More importantly for the television story, his plot now needs to connect with the central conflict. Two seasons of wandering and remembering have used up most of the available patience.
Battles, Swords and Armour
The weapon and armour design mixes historical influence with high fantasy. Númenórean equipment uses scale armour, crested helmets, spears and leaf-shaped swords to create a recognisable military identity. Elven arms are more refined, with long blades, elegant lines and decoration that reflects status as much as function. The Orcs carry rough, mismatched weapons that suggest scavenging and adaptation.
Galadriel’s swordplay is deliberately heightened. Her speed and precision communicate Elven ability, although some sequences drift into choreography that looks designed to be admired rather than survived. Arondir’s fighting is more grounded in movement through terrain, combining archery, knives and close combat.
The Siege of Eregion is the series’ most substantial battle so far. It offers cavalry, siege engines, massed infantry and close fighting within the city. Tactical clarity is not always perfect, but the action serves the collapse of Celebrimbor’s world rather than functioning as a detached spectacle.
The show’s weapons are not strict historical reconstructions, nor should they be. The best designs feel usable while remaining culturally distinct. The least convincing are those that become too ornamental or improbably clean after several days of catastrophe. Middle-earth apparently has superb laundry facilities.
How Faithful Is The Rings of Power to Tolkien?
The answer depends on what kind of faithfulness matters most to you.
The series compresses thousands of years of Second Age history into a single dramatic period. Characters who belong to different points in Tolkien’s chronology are made contemporaries. Events are rearranged, new characters are introduced and familiar figures are given invented journeys. The show primarily adapts material available through The Lord of the Rings and its appendices, rather than freely dramatising every text associated with the Second Age.
These changes are substantial. They can also be separated from the question of whether the resulting drama works. Timeline compression is understandable for television. A series cannot replace most of its human cast every few episodes while the Elves continue discussing jewellery. Yet compression creates its own problems, particularly when political changes and relationships lack time to develop.
At its best, the show retains Tolkien’s interest in mortality, pride, creation, corruption and resistance to despair. At its weakest, it borrows names and images while relying on modern mystery-box storytelling. Season 2 moves closer to the former.
Visuals, Music and Production Design
Few television series look this expensive, and fewer still put the money on screen so consistently. Khazad-dûm, Númenor and Eregion each have distinct architecture, materials and colour. Costumes communicate culture and hierarchy without every character looking dressed for the same fantasy convention.
Bear McCreary’s music is one of the show’s most dependable strengths. Themes recur with enough clarity to support the enormous cast, while the score carries grandeur without merely imitating Howard Shore’s work for the films.
There are occasional moments when digital scale overwhelms physical reality, but the overall craft is exceptional. The frustrating part is that visual splendour cannot fix a slow or fragmented script. A gorgeous road remains a road, especially when the story insists on walking every mile of it.
What The Rings of Power Gets Right
- Charlie Vickers makes Sauron persuasive, controlled and genuinely unsettling.
- Charles Edwards turns Celebrimbor into the tragic centre of Season 2.
- Khazad-dûm and Númenor have strong visual identities.
- Elrond and Durin provide the series with emotional warmth.
- Bear McCreary’s score gives the sprawling story cohesion.
- The Siege of Eregion finally delivers conflict worthy of the show’s scale.
- The second season places character manipulation ahead of artificial mystery.
Where the Series Still Struggles
- Too many storylines compete for attention and weaken one another’s momentum.
- Númenor’s political changes need more development.
- Mysteries surrounding Halbrand and the Stranger are prolonged beyond their useful life.
- Dialogue sometimes reaches for Tolkien-like grandeur and lands somewhere near a motivational poster.
- Important journeys and relationships are occasionally compressed, while less urgent material expands.
- Lore changes are not always justified by stronger drama.
Is The Rings of Power Worth Watching?
Yes, with qualifications. Viewers who want another version of Peter Jackson’s trilogy may find its rhythms unfamiliar. Tolkien readers who value exact chronology will have plenty to object to. Anyone allergic to slow ensemble fantasy should approach with snacks and a little emotional preparation.
Still, the series offers enough to justify the time. Season 1 builds an extraordinary world but handles its mysteries clumsily. Season 2 gives that world a stronger villain, a tragic centre and a clearer sense of momentum. The improvement is significant.
I would not call The Rings of Power a masterpiece, and its budget does not purchase immunity from criticism. I would call it a fascinating, frequently beautiful adaptation that has begun to understand its own strengths. The frustrating thing is how close it sometimes comes to greatness before wandering into another subplot.
Season 3: What We Know So Far
Season 3 has not yet aired. It will premiere on Prime Video on 11 November 2026, with the first four episodes released together. Two more episodes follow on 18 November, and the final two arrive on 25 November.
The story moves forward five years from the fall of Eregion. Middle-earth is at war, Sauron’s forces have expanded and the Dark Lord is attempting to forge the One Ring in Barad-dûr. Lindon, Rivendell and the sealed halls of Khazad-dûm stand among the remaining centres of resistance.
New cast members include Jamie Campbell Bower as Celeborn, Zubin Varla as Khamûl, Eddie Marsan as Thrain and Andrew Richardson as Anárion. Simon Pegg voices the Balrog. Returning characters include Galadriel, Elrond, Sauron, Gil-galad, Gandalf, Durin IV, Disa, Elendil, Isildur, Pharazôn and Míriel.
The five-year jump is a sensible choice. It gives the war room to develop and may help the series escape the compressed, occasionally breathless movement of its political storylines. The real test will be whether the writers can connect Númenor, the Elven realms, Khazad-dûm and Rhûn without turning each episode into a very expensive round of checking in.
Final Verdict
After two seasons, The Rings of Power is a good fantasy series with flashes of something better. Its visual world is magnificent, its music is excellent and its strongest actors give real weight to familiar history. Season 2 proves that the series works best when it trusts dramatic irony, character and corruption rather than hiding identities from an audience already three clues ahead.
The score reflects the series released so far, not the unaired third season.
Season 1: 6.5 out of 10
Season 2: 8 out of 10
Overall: 7.5 out of 10
There is now a credible path towards a genuinely great third season. Sauron has stepped into the centre, the One Ring is coming and the world is at war. Middle-earth has finally finished setting the table. It is time to see whether the feast arrives hot.
