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Amazon's 'The Rings of Power' Season 3 Wraps Despite Fan Skepticism
Confirmed
In Short: Amazon's 'The Rings of Power' Season 3 has concluded filming, with the series facing a mixed reception from fans.
RINGS OF POWER Season 3: The Spoilers I Couldn't Reveal (It's A SOAP OPERA!). Erik Kain
Despite critical acclaim, with scores of 84% and 85% on Rotten Tomatoes for the first two seasons, fan sentiment has soured, with the Popcornmeter rating dropping to a 49% 'rotten' score.
Collider's Carly Lane, who reviewed Season 2, gave it a 7/10 but noted that the show failed to improve on its initial weaknesses.
Season 3 introduces Jamie Campbell Bower in an undisclosed role, and the series continues to explore the forging of the Rings of Power leading up to the confrontation with Sauron.
The show's official social media accounts posted a behind-the-scenes video featuring Campbell Bower, hinting at the darker tone of the upcoming season.
IndieWire's review suggests that the series is 'stuck on the back foot,' with the third season beginning five years after the fall of Eregion.
IGN notes that the series is starting to buckle under the weight of its lore obligations, with Sauron's fixation on creating the One Ring becoming a central focus.
TheWrap highlights that Season 3 is the darkest yet, with Sauron becoming seemingly immovable as he captures most of Middle-earth.
The Sunday Guardian notes that while Season Three is a notable improvement in storytelling, it still grapples with its vast scale.
The Free Press Journal gives the series 3.5 stars, praising the show's direction and narrative focus, which has improved from earlier seasons.
Background
The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power is an American fantasy television series developed by J. D.
The Lord of the Rings is an epic high fantasy novel written by the English author and scholar J. R.
What's confirmed
- Despite critical acclaim, with scores of 84% and 85% on Rotten Tomatoes for the first two seasons, fan sentiment has soured, with the Popcornmeter rating dropping to a 49% 'rotten' score.
- Collider's Carly Lane, who reviewed Season 2, gave it a 7/10 but noted that the show failed to improve on its initial weaknesses.
- Season 3 introduces Jamie Campbell Bower in an undisclosed role, and the series continues to explore the forging of the Rings of Power leading up to the confrontation with Sauron.
- The show's official social media accounts posted a behind-the-scenes video featuring Campbell Bower, hinting at the darker tone of the upcoming season.
- IndieWire's review suggests that the series is 'stuck on the back foot,' with the third season beginning five years after the fall of Eregion.
- IGN notes that the series is starting to buckle under the weight of its lore obligations, with Sauron's fixation on creating the One Ring becoming a central focus.
- TheWrap highlights that Season 3 is the darkest yet, with Sauron becoming seemingly immovable as he captures most of Middle-earth.
- The Sunday Guardian notes that while Season Three is a notable improvement in storytelling, it still grapples with its vast scale.
- The Free Press Journal gives the series 3.5 stars, praising the show's direction and narrative focus, which has improved from earlier seasons.
What's still developing
- "Now that the truth about Sauron's return has been revealed to viewers, as well as select characters, Season 2's early episodes also feel most akin to a horror film, putting the audience in a position of having to helplessly watch as the franchise's greatest evil lurks in plain sight, speaking to characters who have no knowledge of his origins or his awful intentions. As the plot crescendoes toward a major battle at Eregion, the series embraces the elements of a war movie, with the resulting action sequences — taking place across the three final episodes — on par with that of Helm's Deep or the Pelennor Fields in terms of scale and devastation."
- The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power may not be beloved by audiences, but there's still plenty there to love for fans, who will be thrilled to hear the news released by Amazon and Prime Video that Season 3 of the show has officially wrapped.
- Viewers who wrote off The Rings of Power after its first season are missing out on a sobering tale that brilliantly plays on the same themes that Tolkien so eloquently portrayed in his original works.
- On Metacritic, the title sits at 73/100 which is the best for the show to date, but only a minor improvement on the 71 & 67 respectively of the first two seasons.
- Title: The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power Director: Sanaa Hamri Cast: Robert Aramayo, Markella Kavenagh, Joseph Mawle, Ema Horvath, Maxim Baldry, Morfydd Clark, Owain Arthur, Ismael Cruz Cordova, Charlie Vickers, Charles Edwards Where: Streaming on Amazon Prime Rating: 3 1/2 Stars Review Middle-earth has a rather inconvenient problem.
- This pays off hints that Theo was meant for the dark side that were first seeded in Season 1 when he found that broken sword hilt bearing the sigil of Sauron.
- 18, and Episodes 7 and 8 finishing out the season on Nov.
- The third season begins with a recap of its own: Five years have passed since the Elven city of Eregion fell, and Sauron (Charlie Vickers) controls more of Middle Earth than ever.
- The best and worst thing you can say about The Rings of Power, Amazon’s polarizing Lord of the Rings prequel series, is that it’s “pretty good.” Which is either a death knell for the show or a ringing endorsement, based on what you measure it up against.
- Filming began the following May, though a specific premiere date for The Rings of Power season 3 has yet to be announced.
- But after a lavish-but-dramatically stilted debut in 2022 and a similarly well-heeled but darker second season in 2024, it does feel like prequel series The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power is somehow stuck on the back foot.
- Season 3 fixes some of the show’s biggest issues with a more focused outing that fully understands the focus of the show is none other than Sauron.
Sources
- Colliderlink
- Comic Book Resourceslink
- Dark Horizonslink
- Entertainment Weeklylink
- Free Press Journallink
- IGNlink
- IndieWirelink
- Inverselink
- ScreenRantlink
- The Guardianlink
- The Sunday Guardianlink
- TheWraplink
- Times Nowlink
- Varietylink
- Wikipedia — background on The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power link
- Wikipedia — background on The Lord of the Rings link
- Erik Kain — video link
- Erik Kain — video link
- WatchMojo.com — video link