An exclusive preview featurette released by IGN offers a closer look at the creature designs and visual effects planned for Season 3 of The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power. The footage confirms practical prosthetics alongside digital scale, highlighting Haradrim war mounts, winged beasts, and individual Orc characters.
As expected all things Tolkien did not mention in his histories of the second age. The fell beasts in particular did not show up until the 3rd Age.
The featurette depicts a Second Age Haradrim war-party mounted atop a giant Mûmak fitted with wooden war gear and armor plates–the same style that we see thousands of years later in Peter Jackson’s films. In J.R.R. Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings text, Mûmakil serve as massive war beasts fielded by the Men of Harad, most famously during the Battle of the Pelennor Fields in The Return of the King. Depicting an organized Haradrim force riding an armored Mûmak confirms that Season 3 will expand its geographic reach further into the southern deserts of Harad and Rhûn–even though there’s no reference to them in the 2nd age at all.
The visual effects team also detailed their design process for the winged beasts ridden by the Nazgûl. Designers noted they modeled the creature’s flight patterns directly on Tolkien’s description in Letter 100 and Letter 109, where he compared Fell Beasts to prehistoric pterodactyls that flap, rise, and fall. In Tolkien’s legendarium, the Ringwraiths initially rode dark horses in the Second Age and early Third Age, only mounting winged steeds bred in Mordor later in their history. Introducing winged beasts during the Second Age continues the show’s pattern of pulling Third Age elements forward into its timeline.
Alongside digital creatures, the production team expanded its use of practical makeup and prosthetics for Orcs. The team built multiple “hero orc” prosthetic suits and developed distinct Orkish dialogue for Season 3. Tolkien frequently depicted Orcs using specific dialects and speech patterns in chapters like “The Land of Shadow” in The Return of the King, and relying on practical prosthetics follows the creature design tradition established by Peter Jackson’s film trilogy.
Sauron and his Fell Beast in The Rings of Power Season 3
