If you click on a link and make a purchase we may receive a small commission. Read our editorial policy.

The Rings of Power season 3’s five-year time jump is designed to win back viewers ahead of the Lord of the Rings movie franchise return

Five years have passed between The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power season 2 and 3, and as Sauron is aiming to gain more followers, so too is Prime Video's Tolkien adaptation

News by Grant DeArmitt, Staff Writer

Published on Thu Sep 10 2026

Popverse's top stories

- D Comics (yes, sort of like DC Comics) is the working name for Disney and WEBTOON’s new comics app platform

- Don't read into the King Spawn movie title at Blumhouse, says Todd McFarlane - "Writers put titles on their scripts"

- 25 years later, X-Men legend Chris Claremont still rejects Marvel's Wolverine origin story and sticks to his own headcanon for Logan

When The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power returns this fall, fans will be coming into a different Middle-Earth than the one they knew. Not just because of the disastrous events of season 2 (well, disastrous for the elves anyway - Sauron's doing pretty well for himself), but because there will be a five-year time jump between the end of this previous season and its successor. And recently, series co-showrunner Patrick McKay revealed that there's more to that time jump than storytelling.

McKay revealed as much during an interview published in the summer issue of Empire Magazine. Teasing what fans should expect in the upcoming chapter of The Rings of Power, McKay leaned into the idea that the time jump wasn't just a narrative device, but something that could potentially attract more viewers to the Prime Video adaptation of J.R.R. Tolkien's Second Age of Middle Earth.

"It was a calculated decision to start with real momentum," said the producer, who co-showruns the series with J.D. Payne, "And hopefully bring a few more people onto the train."

The Rings of Power season 1 premiered on Amazon to a whopping 25 million viewers in the 24 hours after its debut. However, season 2 of the show dropped significantly, with Samba TV estimating that the first episodes reached only 902K views in the first four days of their debut. Will a time jump between seasons - along with a Simon Pegg Balrog and new (old?) love interest for Galadriel - be enough to recapture season 1's viewership magic?

That's a question Sauron himself might not be able to answer.

The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power season 3 streams on Prime Video November 11.

Whether you're Shirefolk, Elven, Dwarven, or something else, there's a good reason to love Lord of the Rings. We do! With that in mind, we have a dragon's horde of goodies for you:

Follow Popverse for upcoming event coverage and news

Grant DeArmitt: Grant DeArmitt (he/him) likes horror, comics, and the unholy union of the two. In the past, and despite their better judgment, he has written for Nightmare on Film Street and Newsarama. He lives in Brooklyn with his partner, Kingsley, and corgi, Legs.