Published Apr 19, 2026, 3:00 PM EDT
Craig began contributing to Screen Rant in 2016 and has been ranting ever since, mostly to himself in a darkened room. After previously writing for various outlets, Craig's focus turned to TV and film, where a steady upbringing of science fiction and comic books finally became useful. Craig has previously been published by sites such as Den of Geek.
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The next two years will be busy in Middle-earth, with The Lord of the Rings entering its next phase as a major multimedia franchise. In one corner is Prime Video's The Rings of Power, currently gearing up for its third season after a high-profile debut in 2022. The Rings of Power season 3 is currently without a release date, but based on the show's timeline thus far, one would expect new episodes to drop between fall 2026 and early 2027.
In the opposite corner is Warner Bros.' revival of Peter Jackson's Middle-earth, with Jackson himself playing quarterback in a producing role. After years of respectful silence, The Lord of the Rings' big screen output is taking major steps forward, announcing a soft-sequel written by Stephen Colbert and confirming Jamie Dornan will take over from Viggo Mortensen in the role of Aragorn for The Lord of the Rings: The Hunt for Gollum, scheduled for release in December 2027.
It's Bezos the Bard vs. Fifty Shades of Gandalf the Grey. Until now, Amazon has enjoyed a clear run at Tolkien's universe, with only the animated The War of the Rohirrim for competition. Over the next 18 months or so, however, fans will witness a genuine battle for the future of Middle-earth onscreen, and whatever the outcome might be, it's inevitable that The Lord of the Rings will look very different once the dust settles.
Season 3 Could Make Or Break The Rings Of Power
The Rings of Power met with divisive reactions across its first two seasons, which included moments of genuine greatness alongside baffling examples of creative license pushed too far. Whatever faults it might've had, The Rings of Power can at least claim that those first two seasons were a precursor to its real story. The Rings of Power season 1 was simply about inciting Sauron's return to Middle-earth and gently introducing a Gandalf that isn't Ian McKellen. Season 2 continued down the "origin story" route by showing the Rings of Power themselves being created, and Gandalf figuring out his mission.
Season 3 is where The Rings of Power finally shifts out of setup mode and enters the main phase of its story. It's the war between Sauron and the Elves, with the Dark Lord attempting to launch his cursed jewelry line across the entirety of Middle-earth, while Gandalf does battle against an evil wizard to the east. Any missteps The Rings of Power made during its first two seasons could be forgiven as teething problems, the series attempting to navigate its relationship with canon, or a period of trial and error to see which ideas resonated with viewers and which fell flat.
But if The Rings of Power doesn't find its stride and become a truly great fantasy series in season 3, it's hard to imagine it'll ever happen. Prime Video was originally aiming for a five-season arc, so the next chapter will be where the movers and shakers in Middle-earth really begin moving and shaking. It's the last chance for The Rings of Power to perfect its formula and cast off those early-season woes, because unlike the origin-based buildup seen so far, season 3's storylines are the ones that will define Amazon's investment in Middle-earth.
The Hunt For Gollum Will Set The Tone For Warner Bros' New The Lord Of The Rings Movies
The Lord of the Rings: The Hunt for Gollum is attempting to leverage the biggest advantage Warner Bros. has over Amazon's The Rings of Power: familiarity.
The Rings of Power makes subtle in-story suggestions that the Prime Video series is aligned to Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings movies, but when all is said and done, they're two separate franchises. Only The Hunt for Gollum, therefore, can fully inhabit the live-action world viewers know and love, and will bring back both Ian McKellen as Gandalf and Elijah Wood as Frodo. Even so, success is far from guaranteed. The Hobbit movies suffered mixed reactions, The War of the Rohirrim failed to impress, and 13 long years have passed since Middle-earth's last live-action film.
The Hunt for Gollum is effectively a barometer for the franchise's big screen future. Good reviews and strong box office would bode well for Stephen Colbert's Shadow of the Past and other planned entries in the franchise, whereas the opposite would suggest fans are perfectly happy rewatching their The Lord of the Rings extended Blu-rays for the eleventy-first time, and see little value in side-quests.
The Hunt for Gollum enjoying critical and commercial success would wrestle authority over Tolkien's live-action domain back from The Rings of Power. Failure would cede the advantage to Amazon.
What If The Battle Over Middle-earth Ends In A Tie?
If the struggle between The Rings of Power and The Hunt for Gollum concludes without a decisive winner, two other scenarios remain.
The first, and more optimistic, is that The Rings of Power finds its feet in season 3, drops its best episodes yet, and addresses the major issues that plagued its first two outings. Then, a year or so later, The Hunt for Gollum releases, completely eclipsing the Hobbit movies and reminding everyone how they felt when watching Peter Jackson's The Fellowship of the Ring for the first ime. If that happens, is it possible that two worthy The Lord of the Rings franchises can coexist in harmony?
I would be inclined to suggest not.
In theory, a TV series set in the Second Age and a movie series set in the Third Age shouldn't typically interfere with each other. Because The Rings of Power largely draws from Tolkien's appendices in the main The Lord of the Rings books, however, the series conspires to borrow various elements from the Third Age, including Gandalf, Tom Bombadil, and Hobbits. As The Rings of Power marches toward its endgame, it also pulls increasingly closer to the Last Alliance of Elves and Men, which was seen already in Peter Jackson's movies. The end result is two franchises separated by little more than a timeline technicality and the size of the screen.
The less optimistic scenario is that The Rings of Power season 3 and The Hunt for Gollum both fail to convince. It's not the outcome anyone is hoping for, but the possibility remains that Amazon's upcoming season will continue delivering the same mixed bag of pristine visuals and questionable lore changes, while The Hunt for Gollum ends up feeling like a single-paragraph story stretched out for a 2-hour runtime. In that eventuality, everybody loses out.
The future of Middle-earth would be better off with a clear victor in the upcoming battle between streaming and cinemas. Should the result be mutual defeat on both sides, however, audiences can take some comfort in the idea that J.R.R. Tolkien's world might enjoy a period of unadapted peace where everyone can come together and unite over the fact that Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings trilogy is still aging remarkably well.
Created by J.R.R. Tolkien
Character(s) Frodo Baggins, Gandalf, Legolas, Boromir, Sauron, Gollum, Samwise Gamgee, Pippin Took, Celeborn, Aragorn, Galadriel, Bilbo Baggins, Saruman, Aldor, Wormtongue, Thorin Oakenshield, Balin Dwalin, Bifur, Bofur, Bombur, Fili, Kili, Oin, Gloin, Nori, Dori, Ori, Tauriel, King Thranduil, Smaug, Radagast, Arondir, Nori Brandyfoot, Poppy Proudfellow, Marigold Brandyfoot, Queen Regent Míriel, Sadoc Burrows
English (US) ·