The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power season three review – this dull show’s revamp is too little, too late

They’ve sidelined the harfoots, introduced a Stranger Things star and thrown in full-blooded romance. It’s probably not enough to stop the fantasy prequel feeling boring, though

It might seem strange to characterise the leading streaming show from one of the most dominant corporations on the planet as a scrappy underdog. 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.

For all its finely wrought art direction and respect for JRR Tolkien’s elaborate high-fantasy taxonomy, this no-expense-spared expansion of the mythos – set in the Second Age of Middle-earth, thousands of years before Bilbo Baggins first went walkabout – is in danger of going down in our own historical annals as simply a bit dull. Never mind more rings, it desperately needs some rizz.

Season three has the whiff of a soft relaunch. A five-year time jump from the second-season climax, where silver-tongued villain Sauron (Charlie Vickers) ensured the industrial elven city of Eregion was sacked by orcs, makes it a relatively clean jumping-on point. Characters and concepts made beloved by Peter Jackson’s films are beginning to accumulate, which producers must hope will lure more viewers.

After an extended period of coyness over his identity, marquee-name wizard Gandalf (Daniel Weyman) is ready for his closeup. The enchanted rings of power oft-mentioned in the Lord of the Rings are finally forged and in play (with one notable exception). Conversely, the harfoots – diminutive nomads prone to singing, pratfalls and boorish online criticism during the first two seasons – have been sidelined.

Perhaps the sweet-natured proto-hobbits are wise to make themselves scarce. Five years of unchecked orc marauding have scarred the bucolic landscapes of Middle-earth. Despite wielding three rings of power, the elves have been pinned back to sanctuaries on opposite sides of the map. Gandalf is way off in the arid east, weighing up how to take down the badger-bearded Dark Wizard (Ciarán Hinds). The usually boisterous dwarves, now led by King Durin IV (Owain Arthur), are gloomily hunkered down in their mountain fortress.

To the west, the remote island nation of Númenor, conceived as an Edenic utopia for humans, could turn the tide on the mainland if not for being embroiled in its own religious civil war. And in the chargrilled southern realm of Mordor, the shapeshifting deceiver Sauron – now settled into the form of a sleek-haired, stubbly hottie – is hellbent on forging the ultimate WMD (Weapon of Magical Destruction). The intention is that this will be the one ring to supersede all others, even if, so far, product development has been fitful.

With characters scattered even further across every compass point of Middle-earth, the constant challenge facing the Rings of Power is to make hopscotching around them seem natural and story-driven rather than arbitrary. It doesn’t help that the war footing means elves, humans, dwarves and even Sauron himself all clearly feel safest in their own power bases, making most plotlines feel more closed-off than ever.

A markedly increased mortality rate at least creates room for new faces. Sporting wild thickets of hair and a similarly untamed Scottish brogue, Eddie Marsan is clearly having fun as Durin’s hard-partying older sibling Thrain, who may covet more than just his brother’s dwarven throne.

Presenting himself to anti-Sauron forces as a willing turncoat with vital intel, the rattily ingratiating Marnûkh (Adam Young) breaks from the long tradition of presenting orcs as an anonymous mass of thuggish, capering cut-throats. Pairing this motormouthed lowlife with high-minded wood elf Arondir (Ismael Cruz Cordova) on a risky mission behind enemy lines is the highlight of the opening episodes.

But the splashiest new signing is Jamie Campbell Bower. Formerly the nightmarish big bad of Stranger Things, Bower is now granted a skincare glow-up as dashing blond Celeborn, the long-missing elf husband of warrior-queen Galadriel (Morfydd Clark). Introduced in a far-flung flashback where he and Galadriel meet-cute via gravity-defying sword sparring in the swooning style of Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, Celeborn offers an injection of full-blooded romance that even the most diehard Tolkien fan would admit was never the author’s strong suit.

Will it be enough? As the pivot point of a proposed five-season run, it feels as if The Rings of Power has its battle lines clearly drawn at last and is trying to put its best foot forward. Certainly it is more action-packed and seems rather less like homework. But for those not already in thrall to Tolkien’s mythical framework, it may be too little, too late.