The wait is over — The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power Season 3 premiered today, Wednesday, Nov. 11, on Prime Video, and it did not come back quietly. Instead of the usual weekly drip, Amazon dropped the first FOUR episodes at once. The season has eight episodes total: episodes 1–4 today, episodes 5–6 on Nov. 18, and the final two on Nov. 25. The story jumps five years past the fall of Eregion, and this is the season where the One Ring itself gets forged.

SPOILER WARNING — stop here if you haven’t watched yet. Episode 4 kills off Arondir (Ismael Cruz Córdova), the Elf warrior who has been with the series since Season 1. He dies at the hands of Theo (Tyroe Muhafidin) — now corrupted as one of Sauron’s Nazgnagôl — after Sauron orders the kill. The two actors disagree about what really happened: Muhafidin says Theo chose to do it, while Córdova says once Sauron gives the order, there is far less agency than it looks. Either way, a character who has been there since the beginning is gone four episodes in.

Co-showrunner Patrick McKay says the binge-style drop is deliberate — the show is so serialized it plays better watched in big chunks, and the whole season will be out before the holidays. Season 2 wrapped in fall 2024, so fans have waited more than two years for this. Clear your evening, Toledo — Middle-earth is back, and it came out swinging.

Sources: Nerdist and TV Insider

Image: Wikimedia Commons / Osa 150 (public-domain illustration of the One Ring, not a show still)