Rings of Power season 3: Harfoots return, premiere November 11

Patrick McKay, co-showrunner of The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power, told IGN that the Harfoots have not been written out of season 3. He spoke at the show's press junket. The clarification comes after earlier reports suggested otherwise. McKay named the actors behind the characters: Markella Kavenagh and Megan Richardson. His line to IGN was that the Harfoots will be back, perhaps sooner than viewers expect. So the halflings stay in the story, but the showrunner said they won't feature to the same degree as in the first two seasons.

McKay described the goal for season 3: level up as dramatists and focus the show. He wants it more psychological and more emotional, and darker than before. The unifying thread is Sauron forging the One Ring. McKay said every storyline should serve that, without the sprawl the team enjoyed in past seasons. His words: one journey, on rails. He added that a story not about the rings, Sauron or the One Ring would have felt forced and would not have done justice to those characters.

At the close of season 2, Nori Brandyfoot and Poppy Proudfellow said goodbye to the Stranger, played by Daniel Weyman. The pair joined the Stoors, who left to find a new home after the Dark Wizard, played by Ciaran Hinds, destroyed their canyon. In the finale, the Stoors call the Stranger “Grand Elf”, and the name Gandalf is born. Season 3 picks up five years later. The story follows the war to stop Sauron from forging the One Ring and binding its peoples to his will. New characters join, including a figure described as an “Orc with an Arc”, who may or may not side with the Elves.

The first four episodes of season 3 premiere on November 11, 2026. Episodes 305 and 306 arrive on November 18. The final two episodes of the season land on November 25. All of it streams on Prime Video. If you want to catch up before the premiere, the first two seasons are the place to start, since the new run jumps five years ahead. How much screen time the Harfoots actually get in season 3 is still open: McKay confirmed their return but not the size of their role.