Every New Character Confirmed for Rings of Power Season 3 and Who’s Playing Them

During its San Diego Comic-Con presentation, The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power season 3 put an end to the weeks and months of speculation surrounding many of the roles in the upcoming season. Among the new additions, the major one is the casting of Celeborn, Galadriel’s husband. There are also other significant new characters, such as the ones that will play the mortals who will become Ringwraiths, a royal dwarf from House of Durin, and more.

Rings of Power season 3, which will premiere with four episodes later this year, picks up five years after the season 2 finale. It jumps forward to the height of the War of the Elves and Sauron (the war started after Eregion was attacked). The Dark Lord (Charlie Vickers) is getting closer to forging the One Ring. With that time jump comes a wider cast of characters pulled from deeper corners of J.R.R. Tolkien‘s Second Age, several of whom will shape the show’s take on the origins and the founding of Gondor. Here’s every new name confirmed for the season and the actors cast to play them.

Quick reference:

FieldDetails

Title	The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power
Creators	J. D. Payne, Patrick McKay
Premise	Set during Middle-earth’s Second Age, the series follows the rise of Sauron, the forging of the Rings of Power, the fall of Númenor, and the events leading to the Last Alliance of Elves and Men.
Main Cast	Morfydd Clark, Charlie Vickers, Robert Aramayo, Owain Arthur, Sophia Nomvete, Ismael Cruz Córdova, Daniel Weyman, Benjamin Walker, Lloyd Owen, Cynthia Addai-Robinson, Trystan Gravelle, Markella Kavenagh
IMDb	6.8/10 (as of July 29, 2026)
Rotten Tomatoes – Tomatometer | Popcornmeter	84%|48% (as of July 29, 2026)

1 Jamie Campbell Bower as Celeborn

Jamie Campbell Bower is best known to us as Henry Creel or Vecna, the overarching villain in Stranger Things. In Rings of Power, he steps fully out of villain territory. He will portray Celeborn. For those unaware of the lore, Celeborn is a Sindarin Elf lord and husband to Morfydd Clark‘s Galadriel. The marriage is not new to the show, as he and Galadriel married before the show’s events. But she believed he died in the war against Morgoth (also called the War of Wrath). Season 3, though, brings him back, safe and sound. Bower has framed his own take on the character as something akin to the bond author and progenitor of this universe J.R.R. Tolkien had with his wife Edith. It is a reference point to him. Bower said (via Empire):

This idea of longing and yearning is so pervasive in Tolkien’s relationship with Edith for the time that they were apart. I really feasted on that idea. Celeborn has had to find a way to survive whilst longing for something that he so dearly loved and so dearly missed as well.

Celeborn appeared only briefly in Peter Jackson‘s LotR trilogy, played by Marton Csokas. That means season 3 of The Rings of Power marks the character’s first substantial live-action showcase. There might be some complication arising due to the fact that Galadriel kissed Elrond, but then it was chaste and intended to be a tactical distraction (rather than anything romantic).

2 Zubin Varla as Khamûl

Zubin Varla, who played Xanwan in Andor, joins Rings of Power as Khamûl the Easterling of Rhûn. Khamûl is one of the nine mortal men (kings) who are destined to fall under Sauron’s influence thanks to the titular rings and become Ringwraiths, better known as the Nazgûl (the show refers to proto-Nazgûl as Nazgnagôl). The distribution of power rings to the Nine is one of the Tolkien moments that we hope season 3 gets right. Interestingly, Khamûl is the only Nazgûl that Tolkien calls by name. That detail, however, originates in Unfinished Tales rather than the main Tolkien tome: The Lord of the Rings.

The Rings of Power season 3 will follow Khamûl and the other eight (including, we presume, the Witch King of Angmar, their leader). We will learn who they were before their corruption. The term Nazgnagôl, by the way, means Ring-servant, and the show built it directly from Tolkien’s own language system. They are, after all, still in their human state, albeit they are deteriorating and will one day become those who pursue Frodo and the rest of the Hobbits across Eriador. Khamûl becomes second-in-command to the Witch-King himself in later Tolkien writings. He earns the name Shadow of the East. Incidentally, it is he, and not the Witch-King, who rides into the Shire demanding news of “Baggins” from Farmer Maggot.

3 Andrew Richardson as Anárion

Andrew Richardson joins Rings of Power as Anárion. He is the younger son of Elendil and the brother of Isildur. The casting directly follows up on Rings of Power season 2. If you remember, the season had Elendil searching Númenor’s western coast for his missing son. In Tolkien’s texts, Anárion and Isildur together founded the kingdom of Gondor after the Fall of Númenor. 

Anárion specifically established Minas Anor, which would later come to be known as Minas Tirith. Yes, the same Minas Tirith before whose fall the Battle of the Pelennor Fields was fought. While Isildur traveled to help form the Last Alliance of Elves and Men, Anárion held Gondor against the forces of Sauron. He would die fighting before the beginning of the Third Age. A stone hurled during the Siege of Barad-dûr crushed his helm and killed him. However, it is Anárion’s line, not Isildur’s, that continues on the throne of Gondor. Isildur, we know, would go on to sever the One Ring, the greatest of the Middle-earth rings, from Sauron’s fingers.

4 Eddie Marsan as Thráin

Veteran actor Eddie Marsan has been cast as Thráin. He is the older brother of King Durin IV (Owain Arthur). Thráin is the last close family member Durin IV has left following his father King Durin III’s death fighting the Balrog at the end of season 2.  If Tolkien readers are confused as to who the brothers are in the lore, it is worth noting that Durin IV himself has no basis in Tolkien’s writing. Thráin is likewise an original addition rather than a direct pull from the appendices. 

The name isn’t a coincidence, though. Thráin recurs twice in the real Line of Durin, first as the Dwarf who leads the survivors of Khazad-dûm’s fall onward after the Balrog’s rampage, and later as Thráin II, the father of Thorin Oakenshield. Oakenshield’s story is explored in Peter Jackson’s The Hobbit trilogy. His arc concerning the Ring of Power and the Necromancer of Dol Guldur (who turns out to be Sauron in disguise) gives this Second Age namesake an uneasy echo to grow into.

5 Adam Young as Marnûkh

Rounding out the new additions is Adam Young. He takes on Marnûkh. Marnûkh doesn’t have any grounding in Tolkien’s lore. He is an original character created for the series. He is a mysterious Orc who may not be entirely what he appears to be. The Comic-Con teaser suggests that the character could carry some kind of twist or divided loyalty once season 3 unfolds.

Marnûkh in Rings of Power‘s teaser (see above) is shown at Galadriel’s mercy, her blade at his throat. But another shot appears to show him offering himself as a guide to her and Arondir. Galadriel is the wisest of the Elves by the Third Age, and there must be a reason for her trusting an Orc. There is clearly some kind of arrangement between the captor and captive. We have seen earlier in the show that many, if not most, Orcs do not follow Sauron willingly.

The arc of Marnûkh can be likened to that of Gollum, who was similarly reluctant but was forced into a partnership with Frodo and Sam. Marnûkh goes against one of Tolkien’s strictest laws in relation to Orcs, who in Tolkien’s works are portrayed as being irreversibly tainted by Morgoth and Sauron with little chance of rebelling against their masters (his manipulative control over others is what makes him the greatest high fantasy villain). If Marnûkh is made to be sympathetic and not just cunning, then The Rings of Power season 3 will be one of the most blatant deviations from Tolkien’s Orc mythology.

The new cast additions, summarized:

#CharacterActorWho They AreWhy They Matter in Season 3

1	Celeborn	Jamie Campbell Bower	Sindarin Elf lord and Galadriel’s husband, long presumed dead after the War of Wrath.	Finally reunites with Galadriel and receives his first major live-action storyline.
2	Khamûl	Zubin Varla	Easterling lord of Rhûn and the only Nazgûl named by Tolkien.	The series explores his fall into becoming a Ringwraith as Sauron begins corrupting the Nine with the Rings of Power.
3	Anárion	Andrew Richardson	Elendil’s younger son and Isildur’s brother.	Sets up the founding of Gondor alongside Isildur and expands the Númenórean storyline after the five-year time jump.
4	Thráin	Eddie Marsan	Original character created for the series, introduced as Durin IV’s older brother.	Becomes Durin IV’s last surviving close family member.
5	Marnûkh	Adam Young	Original Orc character with mysterious motives.	Could challenge Tolkien’s traditional depiction of Orcs if his apparent alliance with Galadriel proves genuine rather than deceptive.

Which new addition are you most excited to see in action: Celeborn’s long-awaited return, or the Nazgûl’s tragic origin story? Drop your predictions for Rings of Power season 3 in the comments below.

The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power season 3 premieres on Prime Video on November 11, 2026.