{"id":72392,"date":"2026-07-28T22:10:47","date_gmt":"2026-07-28T14:10:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/?p=72392"},"modified":"2026-07-28T22:10:47","modified_gmt":"2026-07-28T14:10:47","slug":"the-rings-of-power-season-3","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/?p=72392","title":{"rendered":"The Rings of Power Season 3"},"content":{"rendered":"


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Prime Video has revealed a first look at Sauron taking on the Balrog in Season 3 of The Rings of Power, and in doing so confirmed that the Dark Lord uses a legendary item from The Lord of the Rings lore in the fight.<\/p>\n

At San Diego Comic-Con over the weekend, Amazon confirmed that Season 3 of the adaptation not only features the Balrog from The Lord of the Rings, but it speaks for the first time. Voiced by Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz star Simon Pegg, The Rings of Power\u2019s Balrog is confronted by Sauron, who seeks the power to forge the One Ring from the ancient monster.<\/p>\n

Tolkien\u2019s terrifying creature born of fire, darkness, and shadow, who famously battles Gandalf on the bridge of Khazad-d\u00fbm, is in Season 3 an “intelligent, dangerous adversary\u201d for Sauron. The brief look at this encounter, revealed towards the end of the video below, shows the Balrog attempting to hit Sauron with his sword of flame. This would normally signal the end for pretty much every being on Middle-earth, but we\u2019re talking about Sauron here. And the Dark Lord has a trick up his sleeve.<\/p>\n

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We can see Sauron block the Balrog\u2019s attack \u2014 pretty effortlessly it must be said \u2014 with the Iron Crown of Morgoth. In Tolkien\u2019s text, the Crown of Morgoth was forged by Morgoth in Angband, after his return to Middle-earth, to hold the Silmarils and generally help him look like an imposing villain as he stomped around the place. Morgoth, for the uninitiated, was originally Melkor, the most powerful of the godlike Valar, before he turned to the darkness. Morgoth is the original evil of the overall Middle-earth story, so powerful that Sauron reported into him before he became his successor. Talk about a bad boss.<\/p>\n

What we\u2019re seeing here in The Rings of Power is a dramatic departure from the source material, although it makes for a cool-looking shot. The Balrog does not speak at any point in any of Tolkien\u2019s texts, nor is there an indication in any of his texts that Balrogs generally are able to speak. Neither does Sauron seek the Balrog\u2019s counsel at any point. Sauron doesn\u2019t even have Morgoth\u2019s crown in his possession in the source material. Rather, the Valar beat Morgoth’s Iron Crown into a collar that is used to bind him during his final defeat.<\/p>\n

We\u2019re not even sure if this is the Balrog we see in The Lord of the Rings. You might remember that in The Rings of Power Season 2, the Balrog was awakened prematurely from its slumber beneath the Misty Mountains by the greedy Dwarves’ mining for mithril. King Durin III sacrifices himself in Khazad-d\u00fbm to stop the ancient monster after removing his corrupting ring. Is this the same Balrog or a different one? If it is the same Balrog, where does this encounter with Sauron take place? There are a lot of unanswered questions, and it will be interesting to see how the showrunners have handled it all.<\/p>\n

The video does not include the Balrog speaking, but we do get a hint at a line of its dialogue via a prompter that Pegg uses to provide voice over. “Crawl back to your world above,” the Balrog will say. I doubt Sauron will listen.<\/p>\n

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Can you make out the second line of dialogue shown here for Simon Pegg’s the Balrog? Image credit: Prime Video.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

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It shouldn\u2019t come as much of a surprise to see a talking Balrog or Sauron have a chat with one in Season 3, given how far The Rings of Power has deviated from Tolkien\u2019s text in previous seasons. The big question is whether Season 3 improves on what\u2019s gone before in terms of quality, after a couple of \u2014 in my opinion \u2014 rather disjointed seasons. Sauron is the best thing in Season 2, so I\u2019m looking forward to seeing Charlie Vickers reprise the role \u2014 and do horribly evil things in the process.<\/p>\n

Season 3 features the Nazgnag\u00f4l<\/u>, the earlier Second Age incarnation of the Nazg\u00fbl we know from the Third Age. This means we\u2019ll get to see the origins of the Ringwraiths, who were men working for Sauron and lusting for power. It\u2019s worth remembering that The Rings of Power is set thousands of years before the events of J.R.R. Tolkien\u2019s The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings books, so much of what we see in the show is forgotten by the time Gandalf knocks on Bilbo Baggins\u2019 door.<\/p>\n

The first four episodes of Season 3 of The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power will premiere on November 11, 2026. Episodes five and six will be available to stream on November 18, and the final two episodes of the season will be released on November 25.<\/p>\n