The Rings Of Power Officially Casts An Underrated Middle-earth Hero

Published Jul 29, 2026, 5:02 PM EDT Cathal Gunning has been writing about movies, television, culture, and politics online and in print since 2017. He worked as a Senior Editor in Adbusters Media Foundation from 2018-2019 and wrote for WhatCulture in early 2020. He has been a Senior Features Writer for ScreenRant since 2020. Although The Rings of Power season 3 was already exciting before this announcement, the news that Prime Video’s Lord of the Rings prequel has cast Anarion is another compelling reason to tune in when the next season arrives on streaming in the coming months. 2026 is shaping up to be a historically great year for fantasy TV. After the breakout success of HBO’s Game of Thrones opened the floodgates for big-budget, ambitious fantasy shows throughout the 2010s and 2020s, streaming services have upped the ante even further. While the second Game of Thrones spinoff, A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms, gives a more playful and picaresque take on author George R.R. Martin’s immersive fictional universe than either of its predecessors, Game of Thrones and House of the Dragon, Prime Video’s Critical Role franchise offers not one, but two critically acclaimed fantasy shows to compete with this hit. The Legend of Vox Machina and The Mighty Nein are both huge critical successes, although neither could be called Prime Video’s biggest fantasy show. That title definitively belongs to the streaming service’s Lord of the Rings prequel, The Rings of Power, now entering its third outing in 2026. While HBO’s upcoming Harry Potter series will hope to compete with the Prime Video juggernaut when the show’s first outing arrives in December, The Rings of Power is already famous for breaking numerous records with its massive budgets and even bigger viewership numbers. Fortunately, The Rings of Power season 3 also has plenty of new Tolkien lore to explore, meaning the show won’t just be an expensive spectacle. Anarion Is An Underrated Figure From Tolkien's Lore At San Diego Comic-Con 2026, The Rings of Power officially announced that Andrew Richardson will play Anarion in season 3 of the series. Elendil’s son and Isildur’s brother, Anarion has frequently been an underrated figure in the lore of the series thanks to the popularity of Isildur. While Isildur was the brother who famously cut the One Ring from Sauron’s hand, Anarion was a pivotal figure in the Alliance and the formation of Gondor. According to Tolkien's Appendix A, Anarion and Isildur escaped the downfall of Numenor and founded Gondor together, ruling at Minas Anor. While both brothers battled in the War of the Last Alliance, it was only Anarion who died during the siege of Barad-dur. His death means his season 3 role has a predetermined end, but his descendants ensured that Anarion went on to play a major role in Gondor’s history long after his tragic death in battle. Although The Rings of Power season 3 has teased plenty of new characters, what makes Anarion particularly underrated is how under-explored his story has been in earlier screen adaptations of Tolkien’s saga. Since Isildur’s story is so closely linked with the rise and fall of Sauron, the overarching villain of the entire Lord of the Rings saga, there is a tendency for Anarion’s arc to be comparatively overlooked. The Rings Of Power Has Built A Mystery Surrounding Anarion However, no one could accuse The Rings of Power of repeating this mistake. Instead, the prequel has used Anarion’s relative obscurity in his favor, building him up as a mysterious figure while more famous Lord of the Rings characters like Sauron dominate the show’s plot. Throughout season 1 and 2, Elendil and Isildur both mentioned the fact that Anarion was still in Numenor, but the show didn’t clarify where his loyalties lay amid the growing divides of the region. This inevitably led fans to wonder whether The Rings of Power would remain true to Anarion’s role in Tolkien’s Appendix A and The Silmarillion, or if his story would be altered for the show. The Rings of Power effectively built tension and hype around the character’s appearance by hinting at his existence but never explaining his loyalties, making his eventual debut in season 3 all the more exciting for viewers. What Ararion's Debut Means For The Rings Of Power's Future Seasons Fans already knew that The Rings of Power season 3 was building up to the forging of the One Ring and the Fall of Numenor, but the addition of Anarion to the show’s cast list basically proves that this is the next major plot for the spinoff series. The Numenor storyline will now extend past Isildur’s role in the show, setting up the establishment of Gondor and the subsequent War of the Last Alliance outlined above. This epic battle plays a pivotal part in the history of Middle-earth, and the fact that the show is confirmed to feature a five-year time jump at the start of season 3 means that The Rings of Power doesn’t need to waste much screen time before beginning to sow the seeds of this story. Anarion and Isildur’s alliance is a formative change that indirectly leads to the Second Age of Middle-earth, making the character’s arrival a vital moment in season 3. That said, this isn’t the only way that season 3 will expand its story. Much has been made of the addition of Galadriel’s love interest Celeborn, played by Stranger Things star Jamie Campbell Bower, whose presence will lead to new developments in season 3’s Elven storyline. However, the addition of Adam Young’s Marnukh, a mysterious orc, also promises to hint at divisions within the world of orcs that would complicate their straightforward, one-dimensional depiction in earlier adaptations. While it might seem like a betrayal of Tolkien’s vision for The Rings of Power to include relatively heroic orcs, or even orcs who are capable of independent thought, this goes to show just how much the series has moved beyond merely adapting the author’s work to the screen verbatim. As such, it should not come as too much of a shock if the show adds new conflict to the relationship between Isildur and Anarion in season 3, as this could make their eventual reconciliation and strategic alliance all the more dramatic and compelling. Since much of the source material for the series is written in the form of dry, epic fictional histories, it makes sense that the Prime Video show has added more interpersonal stakes to its interpretation of Tolkien’s story. However, regardless of any changes, the arrival of Anarion will be a massive moment in season 3 of Prime Video’s Lord of the Rings prequel, The Rings of Power. Release Date September 1, 2022 Network Amazon Prime Video Showrunner John D. Payne, Patrick McKay, Louise Hooper, Charlotte Brändström, Wayne Yip Directors J.A. Bayona, Sanaa Hamri Writers Patrick McKay, John D. Payne, J.R.R. Tolkien, Justin Doble, Jason Cahill, Gennifer Hutchison, Stephany Folsom, Nicholas Adams Franchise(s) The Lord of the Rings