LOTR: The Rings of Power Showrunners on Sauron's Ring-Making Efforts

Posted in: Amazon Studios, Lord of The Rings, TV | Tagged: the lord of the rings: the rings of power

LOTR: The Rings of Power Showrunners on Sauron's Ring-Making Efforts

The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power Showrunners break down a Season 3 scene featuring Sauron attempting to craft The One Ring.

Published Fri, 18 Sep 2026 09:37:10 -0500
by Gavin Sheehan
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Article Summary

• Rings of Power showrunners J.D. Payne and Patrick McKay tease Sauron’s failed first attempts to forge the One Ring.
• The key Rings of Power scene reveals Sauron’s creation crumbling to dust, exposing hubris and gaps in his craft.
• Payne compares Sauron’s struggle to missing the perfect recipe, as burned records leave him unable to recreate the process.
• Entertainment Weekly’s script reveal hints Rings of Power season 3 will track Sauron’s obsessive quest for the One Ring.

Ahead of the Season 3 premiere of The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power, we're starting to see some teases for the upcoming episodes, including one that predominantly features Sauron. In a piece on Entertainment Weekly, showrunners J.D. Payne and Patrick McKay discussed a particular scene that's going to get a lot of LOTR fans talking, as it shows Sauron, played by Charlie Vickers, attempting and failing to craft The One Ring.

Sauron's Failed Attempt at Power

Before you go running off to check it out, there's absolutely no footage of this. What it is, instead, is a breakdown of the scene in which he is attempting to forge the ring, but ultimately fails as what he has crafted turns to dust in his hands. A feat that he will apparently be playing with throughout the season in an attempt to control the fate of Middle-Earth, as explained in this snippet from the article.

"He hasn't got the recipe right yet," Payne explains. "Not enough heat, too much heat, not enough dash of salt, a pinch of thyme, or oregano. He's not cooking right yet, and with the One Ring, it has to be perfect because it has to be able to rule the three, the seven, and the nine." He adds that the scene perfectly showcases how "Sauron's own hubris has gotten the better of him" in his quest to rule Middle-earth. "He ordered all of Celebrimbor's records about his means of making the rings to be burned because he's like, 'I got this now. I'm going to protect this technology so that I'm the only one who can make nukes now that nuclear energy exists in the world,'" he says. "And that really has come back to bite him because, actually, he didn't know how to do it."

The article continues to give spoilers as it shows off part of the script for that scene, revealing that Sauron seeks the power to forge the One Ring despite the original ring maker being dead and the means of crafting more being burned by his own orders. We also learn a little more about Sauron's relationship with Marnûkh, while also adapting the works of J.R.R. Tolkien for the series. Season three of the show will debut on Amazon Prime on November 11.

The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power Season 3

In Season Three, Middle-earth is at war. Five years have passed since the fall of Eregion. Sauron's armies have marched across the whole of the world, conquering all in their path. Only a few isolated pockets stand between the Dark Lord and total victory – Khazad-dûm, where the Dwarves are now sealed deep within their mountain halls, and the elven realms of Lindon and Rivendell, which are protected by their Three Rings.

But deep in the land of Mordor, in his newly completed tower of Barad-dûr, the Dark Lord toils day and night, obsessed with harnessing a power that will bring the last of his enemies to their knees: One Ring to rule them all... Now, all the free peoples of Middle-earth – Dwarves, Elves, Men, and Wizards alike – must find a way to come together, in a race against time to prevent Sauron from achieving his goal of utter domination of all life…

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