Ahead of San Diego Comic-Con 2026, Prime Video has given us our first look at Daniel Weyman in full Gandalf costume for The Rings of Power Season 3. The image appeared on the side of an official SDCC transit advertisement, shared by @SD_Comic_Con on X. Weyman wears the pointed grey hat and robes, staff in hand, looking very much the part.
It’s an update on the best show of #SDCC 2026… ORIGINAL!! Wait, no it’s not, it’s good versus evil in #LOTR #TROP, via @OutsideComicCon: https://t.co/iafCTtjxqh pic.twitter.com/n4PtcenwVq
— SDCC Unofficial Blog (@SD_Comic_Con) July 17, 2026
It’s the first live-action Gandalf since Sir Ian McKellen in The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies back in December 2014. Weyman has been playing the character as ‘The Stranger’ since Season 1 and got a name at the end of Season 2, when he claimed his staff and said it aloud for the first time… after time spent with the least Bombadil-like Tom Bombadil imaginable.
One thing worth noting: Tolkien placed the arrival of the Istari in the Third Age, around T.A. 1000, as laid out in Unfinished Tales and The Peoples of Middle-earth. The Rings of Power is set in the Second Age, which ended with the War of the Last Alliance in S.A. 3441. So Weyman’s Gandalf is already a departure from the source texts, whatever the costume looks like. The showrunners have been aware of the criticism and have leaned into their own mythology rather than Tolkien’s timeline on this one.
Season 3 premieres on Prime Video on November 11, 2026. The season jumps forward several years from Season 2 and covers the height of the War of the Elves and Sauron as the Dark Lord pushes toward forging the One Ring. A teaser trailer is expected during the Hall H panel at SDCC this weekend.
We’ve covered Rings of Power’s handling of the Stranger storyline and its departures from Tolkien’s Istari lore on Exploring Tolkien. You can watch our full breakdown here:
