‘The Lord Of The Rings: The Rings Of Power’ Season 3 Teaser: Sauron Forges The One Ring & Simon Pegg Voices The Balrog [Comic-Con]

San Diego Comic-Con is heading back to Middle-earth—and this time, Sauron is closer than ever to total victory. Prime Video unveiled the first teaser for “The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power” Season 3 during the series’ Hall H presentation, previewing a darker, war-torn chapter of the fantasy epic ahead of its November 11, 2026, return.

More than 6,500 fans attended the panel, which featured showrunners J.D. Payne and Patrick McKay alongside cast members Cynthia Addai-Robinson, Owain Arthur, Ismael Cruz Córdova, Charlie Vickers, Daniel Weyman and Season 3 newcomer Jamie Campbell Bower. Benjamin Walker, who plays High King Gil-galad, moderated the conversation.

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Jumping forward five years from the fall of Eregion, Season 3 finds Middle-earth engulfed in war. Sauron’s armies have conquered much of the realm, leaving only isolated pockets of resistance between the Dark Lord and total victory. The Dwarves have sealed themselves deep within Khazad-dûm, while Lindon and Rivendell remain protected by the Three Rings.

Meanwhile, inside his newly completed tower of Barad-dûr, Vickers’ Sauron is attempting to forge the One Ring—the weapon he believes will finally bring Elves, Dwarves, Men and Wizards under his control. According to Prime Video, the teaser reveals a darker tone as the threat forces the free peoples of Middle-earth into new and occasionally uneasy alliances.

Season 3 will also introduce Bower as Celeborn, the long-missing husband of Morfydd Clark’s Galadriel. After spending the last several years terrorizing audiences as Vecna in Netflix’s “Stranger Things,” Bower is stepping into the very different role of an Elven lord, warrior and, according to the actor, something of a “lover-boy.”

Zubin Varla joins the series as Khamûl the Easterling of Rhûn, one of the figures destined to become Sauron’s Ringwraiths. The Hall H presentation was interrupted by the surprise appearance of four fully armored Nazgnagôl awaiting their master’s command. Introduced this season as Sauron’s “Ring-servants,” they are the Second Age incarnations of the spectral Nazgûl familiar from “The Lord of the Rings.”

The panel also revealed several additional Season 3 characters. Eddie Marsan plays Thrain, the older brother of King Durin IV; Andrew Richardson portrays Elendil’s younger son and Isildur’s brother, Anarion; and Adam Young joins as Marnûkh, a mysterious Orc who may not be what he appears.

Then there is the season’s most unexpected piece of casting: Simon Pegg will provide the voice of the Balrog. An in-room featurette showed several creatures appearing in Season 3, including Fell-beasts, the war elephants known as Mûmakil, Orcs and the returning Balrog, who will speak for the first time in the series.

Weyman’s Stranger has also finished discovering that he is Gandalf, allowing the show to move beyond the mystery surrounding his identity. Weyman said the showrunners now want audiences to see him as “the wizard we all love from Tolkien’s writings.” However, this younger Gandalf still has plenty to learn before becoming the composed figure familiar from J.R.R. Tolkien’s books.

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The first four episodes of “The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power” Season 3 premiere November 11, 2026. Episodes five and six arrive November 18, followed by the final two episodes on November 25.

Payne and McKay return as showrunners and executive producers. Lindsey Weber, Justin Doble, Kate Hazell and executive producer-director Charlotte Brändström also executive produce. Amazon MGM Studios produces the series.

Watch the Comic-Con teaser below.