Rings of Power Season 3 in 2026

It seems the season three of The Rings of Power may come earlier than estimated. The Hollywood Reporter says the season is set for release in late 2026 instead of sometime in 2027. No specific date was provided. The series is currently expected to complete its five season plan that will possibly end near or during the final battle that is the opening war sequence in The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring. They also posted official plot synopsis for the season:

Jumping forward several years from the events of season two, season three takes place at the height of the War of the Elves and Sauron, as the Dark Lord seeks to craft the One Ring that will give him the edge he needs to win the war and conquer all Middle-earth at last.

Core Cast for The Hunt for Gollum Announced

As part of their CinemaCon presentation, Warner Bros. announced the core cast for The Lord of the Rings: The Hunt for Gollum. CinemaCon is an annual convention for theater owners where the movie studios show them their plans for the next year.

Returning cast members include Andy Serkis reprising Gollum/Smeagol, Ian McKellen as Gandalf, Lee Pace as Thranduil and Elijah Woods as Frodo. New cast members to the franchise are Jamie Dorman (The Fall, Fifty Shades of Grey) as Strider aka Aragorn, Leo Woodall (Nuremberg, The White Lotus) as Halvard, and Kate Winslet (Titanic) as Marigol.

The movie more or less will be set in between The Hobbit and Lord of the Ring films so re-casting was necessary as Viggo Mortensen at 67 playing his then 42 year old self would be difficult in body regardless of how much the mind might be willing, especially for a role that tends to participate heavily in action scenes. The characters of Halvard and Marigol seemed to be made up specifically for the movie but could be inspired from characters in the Appendices. 

Aragorn To Be Recast for Hunt for Gollum

The Hunt for Gollum director Andy Serkis has confirmed that Aragorn will be recast for the movie. Viggo Mortensen will not be returning. Serkis told ScreenRant "I don't know what's out there at the moment, but I know there's a lot of speculation, but let's just say we are recasting the role and we are on the way to finding someone."

My guess is the decision is for practical reasons as the time setting for the film is between the two Lord of the Ring trilogies and kind of in between minutes of Fellowship of the Ring. Mortensen is now 67 so playing Aragorn as he looked then would be a bit of a challenge with the passage of 25 years. Makeup can only do so much. They could use de-aging technology but it still has uncanny valley issues and suspect the character is in the film a lot so would also blow up the budget. I am curious if they offered Viggo a chance to return and he declined..