Season 3 of Prime Video’s The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power is gearing up to be the series’ most ambitious installment yet. In a recent interview, showrunners Patrick McKay and JD Payne confirmed that the upcoming season of the show will put Sauron’s most defining moment in LOTR lore to screen.
Rings of Power Season 3 to depict Sauron’s forging of the One Ring
While speaking with Empire, McKay stated that fans will witness Sauron, played in the series by Charlie Vickers, forge the One Ring in the fires of Mount Doom in The Rings of Power’s upcoming season.
“This is the season where Sauron makes the One Ring in the volcano,” McKay revealed.
His co-showrunner, JD Payne, added that Sauron will finally step out of the shadows in Rings of Power Season 3. “We have a full-on villain this season, in a way that was quite different before,” he noted. McKay added that Sauron’s rise “changes the tone of the show” and that “this third season is darker, more dangerous.” He added, “No one is safe.”
Adding to the excitement for Season 3 of The Rings of Power, McKay said, “The first two seasons were all about building out this world. But throughout that time, we’re lighting all these fuses and setting all these stories in motion. The third season is when all those bombs are starting to explode.”
Charlie Vickers, who portrays Sauron in the LOTR series, also spoke about the grand scale of the third season. “The first day I walked onto that set, I cried. What an amazing privilege and honor to be able to tell that story,” he said. “We were doing the Ring across two weeks, because the sequence is so long.”
The ultimate result, according to Patrick McKay, is “the single most ambitious, technically challenging sequence we’ve ever done on the show. Charlie’s performance is absolutely staggering. We never could have prepared for it.”
Season 3 of The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power is currently scheduled to premiere on Prime Video on November 11, 2026.
