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Some spoilers below.
With Sauron crowned, a Balrog tunneling beneath Khazad-dûm, and The Stranger’s true identity revealed (oh, hey, “Grand Elf”) in the season 2 finale, Prime Video’s Lord of the Rings series, The Rings of Power, is blazing a determined trail toward further seasons—naysayers be forgotten.
Although Prime Video itself has yet to confirm an official season 3 renewal for the fantasy drama, multiple cast and crew members have dropped hints that “good news” is coming. (In fact, executive producer Charlotte Brändström used these exact words in a recent interview with RadioTimes.com, saying, “I can’t say much about season 3, but I think there’ll be good news soon.”)
Rings of Power showrunners Patrick McKay and J.D. Payne have long made their multi-season intentions clear, frequently touting a five-season plan for the Tolkien prequel. In interviews with multiple outlets, including ELLE.com, both McKay and Payne have confirmed season 3 plans, with McKay telling The Hollywood Reporter: “We think the show is just hitting its stride, and we anticipate that season 3 will be onward and upward.”
Payne confirmed the same to Deadline, keeping details close to the vest but sharing that “we’re deep in the works on season 3, and it’s going to be cool.”
In an interview about Morfydd Clark’s performance as Galadriel, conducted ahead of the season 2 premiere, Payne told ELLE.com that he and McKay are eager to explore a wider range of the beloved elf’s emotions—should her story continue into season 3. “Because of the nature of where the story has been so far, it’s been rather grim,” he said. Galadriel has had to be “like the Terminator or something. She’s just on a mission. But the character has a lot of other registers and tones that we are excited to play in—some of which you see in season 2, and some of which we’ve already started to think [for] season 3.”
As for where season 3 might take Galadriel’s nemesis, the dark lord Sauron, McKay had this to offer Deadline: “The last time you see Sauron in [the season 2 finale], he’s now inherited the heirloom hammer. And in her voiceover, Megan Richards’s character, Poppy Proudfellow, is talking about, after a defeat and a great loss, all you can do is pick yourself up and build something new. And that seems to imply maybe the next step in Sauron’s journey. But that’s all we can say.” This could be a hint that Sauron is looking to “build” his own One Ring, the ring that would come to define Tolkien’s sagas.
Regardless of these teases, don’t expect The Rings of Power to announce a season 3 release date any time soon. As McKay shared, “We’re working very hard on it and are deep in the writing process and are really excited about where it’s going to go. But…we don’t have a date right now.” After all, Mordor wasn’t built in a day!
Lauren Puckett-Pope is a staff culture writer at ELLE, where she primarily covers film, television and books. She was previously an associate editor at ELLE.