Rings of Power‘s Third Season Will Feature a Major Time Jump

To the surprise of absolutely no one, in Middle-earth or otherwise, Amazon has confirmed after months of waiting (and reminding us that it was basically going to do it) that its Lord of the Rings prequel Rings of Power will return for season 3. But the studio has also confirmed a few early intriguing details about just what to expect from the season, as the show marches on towards its inevitable proximity to Tolkien’s main saga.

This morning Prime Video confirmed that a third season of Rings of Power is now in pre-production, ahead of filming beginning this spring–which will see the show relocate to Shepperton Studios in the UK as its primary filming hub. While season 1 followed in the footsteps of Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings and Hobbit trilogies by filming in New Zealand, production largely relocated to the UK and Canary islands for season 2.

“The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power continues to captivate audiences worldwide, and we’re thrilled that a third season is underway,” Vernon Sanders, head of TV at MGM Studios, said in a statement provided  The creative team has an extraordinary vision of what’s to come with stories that have left us enchanted and enthralled. We look forward to continuing this epic journey, for our global customers, delving even deeper into the legendary tales that shaped Middle-earth.”

But while the news of season 3 is no surprise, there is intrigue in just what it’s going to be about. In a logline provided to The Hollywood Reporter, Amazon confirmed that the third season will not immediately follow the events of season 2–which climaxed with the elven people deciding to take the fight to Sauron after the invasion of Eregion and the revelation of his deception and eventual murder of Celebrimbor–but instead jump ahead several years… and into open war.

“Jumping forward several years from the events of season 2, season 3 takes place at the height of the War of the Elves and Sauron,” the logline reads in part, “as the Dark Lord seeks to craft the One Ring that will give him the edge he needs to win the war and conquer all Middle-earth at last.”

Although season 2 climaxed with the most famous conflict in the War of the Elves and Sauron–the siege of Ost-in-Edhil, Eregion’s capital, resulting in its total destruction–the actual conflict as described in Tolkien’s writings drags out for several long years beyond it. This includes formative moments for the state of Middle-earth like Elrond’s founding of Rivendell as a new hub for the elves and the dwarves being pushed back into a near total retreat into Khazad-dûm, as well as–with the arrival of Númenórean support in the final years of the war–the turn of Sauron’s focus away from attempting to ensorcell the elves into supporting him and towards the men of Númenór… bringing us ever closer to the island nation’s doom.

Given Rings of Power has already condensed much of the chronology of Tolkien’s vision for the Second Age–a period of time that spans thousands of years–just how much we’ll see beyond the rest of the war in its third season remains to be seen. But as we get closer and closer to formative events in its timeline like the fall of Númenór and the eventual formation of the Last Alliance, and closer to the climax of Amazon’s five-season plan for the series, we can probably start to accept that time jumps will be as regular an occurrence in the series as pointy eared waifs and amiable halflings. That, and even more of the show’s self-acceptance that it is really becoming a Lord of the Rings prequel about the Things You Know About, rather than the series it had largely been up to this point.

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