Draft:The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power season 3

The third season of the American fantasy television series The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power is based on J. R. R. Tolkien's history of Middle-earth, primarily material from the appendices of the novel The Lord of the Rings. Set thousands of years before the novel in the Second Age of Middle-earth, the season depicts some of the major events of the Second Age. It is produced by Amazon MGM Studios in association with New Line Cinema and with J. D. Payne and Patrick McKay as showrunners.

Amazon acquired the television rights to The Lord of the Rings in November 2017 and made a multi-season commitment for a new series. Work on a third season had begun by December 2022. Filming is expected to take place at Shepperton Studios in the United Kingdom.

The eight-episode season is expected to premiere on the streaming service Amazon Prime Video.

Development
Amazon acquired the global television rights for J. R. R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings in November 2017. The company's streaming service, Amazon Prime Video, gave a multi-season commitment to a series based on the novel and its appendices that was believed to be for five seasons, to be produced by Amazon MGM Studios in association with New Line Cinema and in consultation with the Tolkien Estate. The budget was expected to be in the range of US$100–150 million per season, and the streaming service had to give a formal greenlight to future seasons before work could begin on them. J. D. Payne and Patrick McKay were hired to develop the series in July 2018, and were named showrunners a year later. They announced the series' full title, The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power, in January 2022. That August, Amazon explained that the deal with Tolkien's estate required the company to keep the series distinct from Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit film adaptations. Despite this, the showrunners intended for it to be visually consistent with the films.

Later in August 2022, Amazon announced that it was moving production of the series from New Zealand to the United Kingdom starting with the second season, which began production in October. Amazon's television head Vernon Sanders confirmed in December that the company was committed to Payne and McKay's five season plan and said several months of work had been done on the third season already. He said there had not been any announcements about the third season due to their focus on the second, but he expected an official third-season renewal to come in "the new year". In August 2023, Production Weekly included a third season of The Rings of Power in their report of upcoming projects in development. When Payne and McKay extended their overall deal with Amazon MGM Studios in February 2024, a third season had not yet been ordered and a writers' room had not been opened but the pair had started outlining the season's story. Sanders expressed excitement at the series continuing beyond the second season.

Filming
The series' production is being moved from Bray Film Studios in Berkshire, where the second season was filmed, to Shepperton Studios in Surrey for the third season; Amazon signed a long-term deal for exclusive use of new facilities at Shepperton in 2022.

Release
The eight-episode season is expected to premiere on the streaming service Prime Video.