> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://www.andrewliptak.com/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # The battle for Middle Earth is heating up - URL: https://www.andrewliptak.com/lord-of-the-rings-of-power-middle-earth-prime-video-trailer-watch/ - Published: 2026-10-22T17:25:19.000Z - Updated: 2026-10-22T17:31:12.000Z - Description: Prime Video has released a new trailer for the third season of The Rings of Power - Author: Andrew Liptak - Tags: Trailers, News, Fantasy, Streaming Services With just a couple of weeks before it debuts, Amazon's Prime Video has released a new trailer for the upcoming third season of *The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power*, teasing a tense period of Middle-earth's Second Age, and a pivotal moment in the history of the world, the forging of the Ring of Power. The series is set thousands of years before the events of *The Lord of the Rings*, and has been adapting some of the supplemental chapters from author J.R.R. Tolkien's novels. The first season takes place after another monumental battle for power that saw the defeat of the Dark Lord Morgoth and introduced viewers to a younger Galadriel (played by Morfydd Clark) as she obsessed over tracking down Morgoth's mysterious agent, Sauron (played by Charlie Vickers), and as the people of Middle-earth contend with the rise of evil forces throughout the land. The second season deals mostly with Sauron's work to deceive the elves into helping him forge the titular Rings of Power as darkness continues to sweep across the land. For this third season, the action will jump a couple of years, putting the action right into the middle of the war between the Elves and Sauron, who's been working to forge a ring for himself that will allow him to control the other rings and solidify his hold over Middle-earth. The trailer shows off Sauron working on the One Ring in Mount Doom, hosts of orcs and Balrogs, and the Nazgûl (the nine kings that Sauron corrupted through the Rings he gave them), while the elves, dwarves, and men are working to counter them. Here's the trailer: It all looks dark and grim and exciting, and it'll be interesting to see how this season will be received, now that they've presumably had some time to really sink into the world and find their footing. I've [generally liked the series](https://www.andrewliptak.com/rings-of-power-middle-earth-lord-of-the-rings-jrr-tolkien-amazon/), despite some of the liberties that they've taken with the source material (I'm far from a purist). It took me a little while to get through the second season, but it'll be good to sink back into the world for another batch of episodes. The streaming service also released a behind-the-scenes featurette: This new season will kick off with the first half of the season on November 11th over on Prime Video, with two more episodes on November 18th, and a final two on November 25th. After that, we'll wait and see what the future brings. --- Amazon originally [announced the series way back in 2017](https://www.theverge.com/2017/11/13/16644782/the-lord-of-the-rings-amazon-television-show?ref=andrewliptak.com), and then put it into production in 2019, and debuted the first season in September 2022 and the second season in August 2024\. While Amazon [has touted](https://deadline.com/2024/10/lotr-rings-of-power-viewership-update-amazon-1236105939/?ref=andrewliptak.com) that more than 150 million viewers have watched the first season, it hasn't quite been the monumental cultural hit that Peter Jackson's adaptation has been, it took a decent amount of time to [officially renew the show for a third season](https://www.andrewliptak.com/amazon-rings-of-power-third-season-renewed/). I don't find that terribly surprising, given that the entertainment world of 2026 is in a vastly different place than it was a decade ago. Just after Amazon renewed the show for season three, [it cancelled its other big fantasy series](https://www.andrewliptak.com/wheel-of-time-cancelled-prime-video-streaming/), *The Wheel of Time*, after it concluded its third season, despite nearly universal praise for how good the series had become over its run. At the height of the streaming wars when the key metric was subscriber growth (and in no small part because of an economy defined by unnaturally low interest rates), companies could afford to throw hundreds of millions of dollars at a production and hope that it was enough to entice new subscriber signups. [That's really no longer the case](https://www.andrewliptak.com/star-wars-andor-disney-plus-streaming-budgets-economics/): various streaming services have consolidated (Warner Bros. and Paramount the latest), and it's just more expensive to produce these huge shows. That said, those super-expensive projects haven't entirely vanished. The production studio behind the upcoming *Harry Potter* recently issued filings that suggest that the series is on track to become one of the more expensive ever made. *Deadline* [did some back-of-the-envelope guesswork](https://deadline.com/2026/10/harry-potter-accounts-clue-about-budget-hbo-series-1237170454/?ref=andrewliptak.com) and is guessing that the series could run around $25 million *per episode,* or around $200 million per season. ## Sign up for Transfer Orbit A newsletter about science fiction, reading, and the future Subscribe Email sent! Check your inbox to complete your signup. No spam. Unsubscribe anytime. Amazon's venture into Middle-earth has already been an expensive venture: just acquiring the rights reportedly ran them $250 million – before production even started – for a five-season commitment, while the first season reportedly cost somewhere in the range of $465 *million*. Despite those costs, it seems that the company is [already working on a fourth season](https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/tv/tv-news/rings-of-power-season-4-1236605937/?ref=andrewliptak.com) (with production apparently starting in early 2027), and all indications have been that they'll continue through their five-year plan. Either way, the franchise isn't going away: Warner Bros. is currently in the midst of production on a [new prequel film](https://www.andrewliptak.com/gollum-gollum/), *The Lord of the Rings: The Hunt for Gollum* (fittingly, Andy Serkisis directing), [while they've also been working with Stephen Colbert on an intriguing-sounding film](https://www.andrewliptak.com/lord-of-the-rings-shadow-of-the-past-stephen-colbert-film/) called *Lord of the Rings: Shadow of the Past*, which will be set during some of the moments that weren't depicted in Jackson's trilogy and years after it. There had been some reports that the project was being put on hold amidst the merger between Paramount and Warner Bros., but Jackson [recently said that they're still working on the script](https://screenrant.com/peter-jackson-lord-of-the-rings-shadow-of-the-past-hunt-for-gollum-updates/?ref=andrewliptak.com).