The Rings of Power season 3 shifts the narrative of the Lord of the Rings prequel five years ahead, beginning in the midst of battle between Sauron and the Elves. It's a choice that the show's creators, J.D. Payne and Patrick McKay, have said allows them to start the story at a "tipping point", and one that will be followed in future seasons too.
When speaking to GamesRadar+ recently, we asked if this is something that they're planning to do again. "Yeah, very much so," says McKay. "I think from the very beginning, we aspired the show to compress the time that's in the books, but also to have significant jumps forward in time for characters to age, for kingdoms to rise or fall, and I think you know there will probably be some jumps in the future."
The original plan when the show was pitched was for it to run for five seasons. Rumors of work on a fourth season kicking off started circulating last year, but Amazon Studios has yet to confirm the news.
With season 3, this choice allowed them to drop the audience right into the story and continue the pace of the ending of season 2. "We really wanted to start at a running clip, and a great way to do that is to drop the audience into a situation where what they knew before is sort of in the past and doesn't help them; they have to chase the show a little bit," McKay explains.
"You know, 'Oh my gosh, Barad-dûr has been built. Wait, Rivendell has been built. Galadriel and Arondir are like friends now and colleagues and comrades in arms? And over here, this is happening, and the Orcs are like this.'"
He adds: "We felt that it could give us a real jolt of energy to come in like that."
For the show's stars, the time gap also gave them space to imagine what a different place their characters would be in after the break. Gandalf actor Daniel Weyman says he imagined what the impact of spending five years with Tom Bombadil would be on his iconic wizard.
"I love the idea that during those sort of five years, that aside from the riddles and the songs, that Gandalf has learnt that he can be slower with things," he tells us. "He doesn't have to rush into solving. He doesn't need to be needy anymore. He doesn't need to panic so much. That he understands that, as an eternal being, that there are just these little slivers of gap between a bad thing happening and a decision needing to be made. And I think in that, it gives him time to reassess and just reconfirm what his belief is and what his value is."
This will prove vital in the fight against the growing evil in Middle-earth in the show's third season.
The Rings of Power season 3 begins on Prime Video on November 11 with a four-episode drop.
For more, check out our guide to upcoming TV shows and how to watch the Lord of the Rings in order.
