Prime Video viewers last visited Middle-earth’s Second Age in October 2024. That’s not all that long ago, but The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power is a show dense with characters, settings, and lore. You’d be forgiven for feeling a surge of panic ahead of season three, wondering if you’ll be able to jump right back in without doing a rewatch.

io9 watched most of season three—Prime Video provided the first seven episodes for spoiler-free reviews—and can report that this is the most accessible season to date. There’s a quick “previously on” to remind you where Rings of Power left all the major players at the end of season two. Then, it’s five years later, with narration from Galadriel (Morfydd Clark) getting us up to speed on the current situation in Middle-earth, complete with an animated map to reorient us to the geography.

It’s a succinct summary, and with the added aid of some dialogue cues and a few flashbacks once the different stories get going, you’re ready to dive right back in.

And all told, things haven’t really changed in five years, though the War of the Elves and Sauron (Charlie Vickers) has absolutely escalated. Sauron’s Orc army has stomped across the continent while the Dark Lord himself spends his days in lurking in Mordor within Barad-dûr, repeatedly trying and failing to craft the One Ring.

A big reason for his failure is because Celebrimbor, who made the three Elven rings that Sauron would dearly love to get his claws on, was a casualty of season two, as was all the smithing knowledge and records he possessed.

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