‘The Rings of Power’ Season 3 Teaser & Mystery Characters Revealed

The Balrog is going to talk in The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power Season 3. That’s one of the many character details revealed during the Prime Video fantasy drama’s Hall H panel at San Diego Comic-Con 2026. In addition to character reveals for previously announced actors was the first teaser for Season 3 (see above).

The teaser shows Galadriel (Morfydd Clark) reunited with her long-lost husband, Celeborn, played by Stranger Things star Jamie Campbell Bower. It also shows Sauron (Charlie Vickers) making the One Ring, a quest between Galadriel, Arondir (Ismael Cruz Córdova), and an Orc, tensions in Númenor, and more. Plus, Ben Daniels returns as Círdan.

The Rings of Power Season 3 comes out on Wednesdays this November only on Prime Video, starting with the first four episodes on November 11. The season has eight episodes total, so it’s debuting with half of the season. Episodes 5 and 6 come out on November 18, followed by Episodes 7 and 8 (the finale) on November 25.

The new season will start with a five-year time jump. A brand-new teaser trailer unveiled during the Hall H panel revealed the darker tone and some epic moments to come in Season 3, as Sauron’s quest to forge the One Ring is fully underway, and his goal to control all of Middle-earth threatens every one of its realms, causing new, and sometimes uneasy, alliances to be formed to try and stop him.

Just before Comic-Con, Campbell Bower’s role as Celeborn was revealed, along with Zubin Varla‘s role as Khamûl the Easterling, of Rhûn. The July 24 panel revealed the characters that other previously announced actors Eddie Marsan, Andrew Richardson, and Adam Young will be playing.

Marsan is Thrain, Durin’s (Owain Arthur) older brother. Richardson is Anarion, the younger son of Elendil (Lloyd Owen) and brother of Isildur (Maxim Baldry) and Eärien (Ema Horvath). Young is Marnûkh, a mysterious Orc who might not be what he seems.

A new casting announcement was also made: Simon Pegg will voice the Balrog, the fiery creature that lives in the depths of Khazad-dûm. The Balrog has never spoken in a Tolkien adaptation before. A special in-room only featurette titled “Bringing Season 3’s Creatures to Life” showed highlights of several creatures that will be seen this season, including Pegg’s Balrog (which first appeared in Season 2), Fell-beasts, the war elephants known as Mûmakil, and Orcs.

The panel was moderated by series star Benjamin Walker, who plays High King Gil-galad, with showrunners J.D. Payne and Patrick McKay and cast members Cynthia Addai-Robinson, Owain Arthur, Ismael Cruz Córdova, Charlie Vickers, Daniel Weyman, and Campbell Bower. In addition, the panel was interrupted midway by a surprise appearance of four menacing Nazgnagôl in full armor, who were awaiting Sauron’s command. Introduced this season, these entities are ring-servants of Sauron and are the earlier Second Age incarnation of the Nazgûl, also known as Ringwraiths, of the Third Age.

Related

'The Rings of Power' Cast Breaks Down Major Deaths, Stranger Reveal & More From Finale

Here’s the official description for The Rings of Power Season 3: “In Season 3, Middle-earth is at war. Five years have passed since the fall of Eregion. Sauron’s armies have marched across the whole of the world, conquering all in their path. Only a few isolated pockets stand between the Dark Lord and total victory — Khazad-dûm, where the Dwarves are now sealed deep within their mountain halls, and the elven realms of Lindon and Rivendell, which are protected by their Three Rings. But deep in the land of Mordor, in his newly completed tower of Barad-dür, the Dark Lord toils day and night, obsessed with harnessing a power that will bring the last of his enemies to their knees: One Ring to rule them all… Now, all the free peoples of Middle-earth — Dwarves, Elves, Men, and Wizards alike — must find a way to come together, in a race against time to prevent Sauron from achieving his goal of utter domination of all life…”

Viewers will see Sauron inside the tower of Barad-dür for the first time ever this season. The tower was in Peter Jackson‘s Lord of the Rings movies, but the Dark Lord was never seen inside of it.

The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power, Season 3 Premiere, Wednesday, November 11, Prime Video