Amazon is already developing a fourth season of The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power, according to an exclusive report from The Hollywood Reporter. Preproduction is being scheduled for fall 2026, with filming targeting early 2027 — which would put a potential Season 4 release somewhere in 2028.
The fourth season has not been officially greenlit. But Amazon made a five-season production commitment when it acquired the television rights to Tolkien’s works in 2017, and the studio appears to be acting on that commitment. Amazon has publicly claimed 185 million worldwide viewers for the series. Season 1 was the largest Prime Video launch ever, and Season 2 debuted atop Nielsen’s Streaming Top 10 (but declined swiftly after that).
Whether those numbers justify the reported per-season budget is a question Amazon has never fully answered, but the five-season plan has always been the framework the company points to when asked about the show’s future. Ultimately, breaking the commitment, they say, costs too much.
This development news arrives well ahead of Season 3, which premieres November 11, 2026. That season is set during the War of the Elves and Sauron, jumping “several years” past the events of Season 2, and will focus on Sauron forging the One Ring. Beginning preproduction on a fourth season before the third has even aired signals confidence — or at least institutional momentum — on Amazon’s part.
Galadriel watching Halbrand (Sauron) and Celebrimbor at the forge of Eregion in The Rings Of Power
As for where a fourth season might go narratively: the show is licensed from Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings appendices, which cover an enormous stretch of the Second Age. If Season 3 handles the War of the Elves and Sauron, there’s still the Downfall of Númenor and the Last Alliance of Elves and Men ahead.
