The Rings Of Power Replacing Galadriel Creates A Problem For Season 3

Published Oct 25, 2026, 1:01 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. The fact that The Rings Of Power is effectively replacing its main character Galadriel in season 3 sets up a serious plot problem for Prime Video’s Lord of the Rings prequel series. When HBO’s George R.R. Martin adaptation Game of Thrones began in 2011, the show’s budget was unprecedented. Now, the production costs of shows like Prime Video’s record-breaking Lord of the Rings prequel series The Rings Of Power have dwarfed its comparatively small budget. Of course, there is a reason that Prime Video’s The Rings Of Power got a budget far larger than that of Game of Thrones, or even the streaming service’s comparably epic live-action fantasy saga adaptation The Wheel of Time. The Rings Of Power has a huge built-in fan base thanks not only to the historic popularity of author J.R.R Tolkien’s seminal Lord of the Rings books, but also their phenomenally popular movie adaptations. There are almost no fantasy movie franchises as popular as the Lord of the Ringe trilogy. This means that Prime Video’s historically huge investment in The Rings Of Power was arguably less risky than Disney’s less expensive Percy Jackson & The Olympians, since the prequel was more likely to garner a massive return on the streaming service’s investment. That said, The Rings Of Power season 3’s upcoming story, which threatens to replace Galadriel as its main character, could see the show run into serious storytelling issues. Galadriel Has Gradually Been Replaced By Sauron As The Rings Of Power's Main Character Image via MovieStillsDB When The Rings Of Power began, the show needed a clear, recognizable lead character as its protagonist, and Morfydd Clark’s younger version of Galadriel was an ideal fit. Her hunt for Sauron, and the hardships she faced in the First Age, combined to make her a heroine who was equal parts determined and vulnerable. However, season 2 shifted its focus to Sauron, after Galadriel inadvertently brought her enemy into the realm of Eregion. To be fair to the show’s creators, The Rings Of Power season 2’s Sauron was undeniably engaging. Since he was introduced as Halbrand in season 1, Sauron has been a more complex and human figure in The Rings Of Power than he ever was in the Lord of the Rings movies. The show has turned a straightforward faceless supervillain into a character more like Breaking Bad’s Walter White or Dexter’s titular killer, who viewers are drawn to despite their darkness. Season 2 already risked taking this too far as Sauron enjoyed a multi-episode arc forging the all-important rings. By this stage, the character had become so powerful that he was able to stop swapping faces and become the Sauron viewers know, something promised in The Rings of Power season 3’s story. The only problem is that the Sauron viewers know is an unambiguous villain. The Rings Of Power Risks Humanizing Sauron Too Much Credit: Ben Rothstein/Prime Video Sauron’s creation of both the One Ring to Rule Them All and the Nazgul should, in theory, both play a major part in the story of The Rings Of Power season 3, given where the story is headed in the Lord of the Rings timeline. However, the show risks either humanizing Sauron excessively and trying to paint these unambiguously villainous events as more morally complex. Similarly, simply focusing on an outright villain to the detriment of the rest of the characters also won’t work. Much like Game of Thrones could not have centered an entire season around Ramsay Bolton or King Joffrey, The Rings Of Power season 3 risks leaving viewers cold by either centering a villain protagonist or softening his entire role in the saga. Epic fantasy shows like The Witcher and the upcoming Dark Tower adaptation are also attempting to make complex, morally grey fantasy stories sing on the small screen. As such, it makes sense that the Lord of the Rings prequel The Rings Of Power season 3 is taking this approach, but the show may still have a hard time justifying just how far its sympathy has spread. 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