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The Rings of Power season 3 needs to give Tolkien's most overlooked hero the adaptation he deserves
Will Jamie Campbell Bower finally put the long-running Mr Galadriel memes to bed?
Prime Video
- Nicola Austin
Published: Monday, 10 August 2026 at 5:00 pm
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The upcoming third instalment of Prime Video’s flagship fantasy series, The Rings of Power, heralds a new dawn for the show, with a teased five-year time jump resetting the status quo in Middle-earth.
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With Halbrand/Annatar set to take on the mantle of the villainous Sauron and finally forge the One Ring – and the War of the Elves and Sauron officially underway – the stage is set for a darker showdown in a pivotal moment of Tolkien’s Second Age.
With the Elves just about keeping the darkness at bay, one key addition to the cast, revealed last year, will play a pivotal role in the conflict to come – while also finally answering a key question that has been teased since the first season: just where has Galadriel’s (Morfydd Clark) missing husband, Celeborn (Jamie Campbell Bower), been all this time?
The introduction of Celeborn also gives showrunners JD Payne and Patrick McKay the chance to finally do justice to the Sindarin prince of Doriath, after Peter Jackson very much sidelined the character in his Lord of the Rings trilogy – spawning a deluge of memes about Celeborn in the process.
Jokes about the character merely being Mr Galadriel, puns based on his line, “Tell me, where is Gandalf, for I much desire to speak with him,” and his rather awkward head turn in The Fellowship of the Ring have been doing the rounds for decades.
So, will the Stranger Things star’s portrayal of the character finally put an end to the memes?
Marton Csokas as Celeborn in Lord of the Rings. New Line Cinema
Now, don’t get me wrong, I’m usually all for spotlighting an underserved female character in fantasy – as historically, that’s been an ongoing issue in the genre. However, for once, the roles have certainly been reversed when it comes to Celeborn and Galadriel, with The Rings of Power’s portrayal of the Lord and Lady of the Elven realm of Lothlórien certainly favouring the bearer of Nenya.
Celeborn’s supposed disappearance in the battle against Morgoth in the First Age is a plot point born from the showrunners, primarily to set up the complicated dynamic between Galadriel and Halbrand. In Tolkien’s canonical writings, such as The Silmarillion and Unfinished Tales, the two remain together throughout both the First and Second Ages.
Therefore, the character has been largely MIA from both live-action adaptations up until now, doing a disservice to a highly experienced military leader who plays a significant role in the War of the Elves and Sauron. The Sindarin prince of Doriath is also one of the oldest living Elves in Middle-earth by the end of the Third Age, as well as a lord of the Elven realm of Lothlórien and the grand-nephew of Thingol, King of Doriath.
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As a result, casual fans understandably barely know who the character is, so showrunners Payne and McKay have plenty of work to do if they’re to finally spotlight why the return of the presumed-dead Elf matters to Middle-earth’s future. Campbell Bower will also have to earn an emotional investment from viewers fairly quickly, all things considered.
During the War of the Elves and Sauron, along with leading a military force out of Eregion and driving back Sauron’s advancing forces, Celeborn united his fighters with Elrond’s army, which had arrived from Lindon. Despite their combined numbers, the army was too small to stop Sauron’s horde, but Celeborn bravely took command of the survivors and led them northward.
Elrond and Celeborn remained with the survivors and helped rebuild their military strength in the fight against Sauron’s campaign, establishing what would eventually become Rivendell.
Celeborn and Galadriel also share one of Tolkien’s longest-lasting relationships, spanning more than three ages of the world. The Rings of Power finally has the chance to spotlight their love and lasting impact on the ongoing battle against Sauron, particularly through their daughter, Celebrían, whose family would eventually include Elrond, Arwen and Aragorn. That’s not to mention their iconic encounter with the Fellowship in the Third Age.
The Stranger Things star recently teased their dynamic in the upcoming series in an interview with Empire, commenting that it was partly inspired by Tolkien and his wife, Edith.
Jamie Campbell Bower. Kevin Winter/Getty Images
“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.”
Described as a “lover boy”, Payne and McKay certainly have a conundrum on their hands with the character's long-awaited introduction, particularly regarding Galadriel’s complicated relationship with Halbrand aka Sauron - with the showrunners also teasing a potential “love triangle”.
Fuelled by the death of her brother Finrod, Galadriel revealed in the seventh episode of the first season of The Rings of Power, titled “The Eye”, that she also had a husband and had lost him too – implying that she never believed she’d see him again. Presumed dead for an age following the War of Wrath, just how will they introduce Celeborn?
And will there be more than meets the eye to the royal Elf considering his long absence – particularly given the left-field casting choice? Fresh from his hugely popular villainous arc in Stranger Things, Jamie Campbell Bower has undoubtedly become synonymous with antagonists such as Vecna, Caius and Grindelwald.
Season 3 gives the actor an exciting chance to subvert expectations by portraying one of Middle-earth’s wisest Elves in a long-running, loving relationship. The showrunners confirmed that the actors’ chemistry read felt “so natural, and so organic, and so right”, with Campbell Bower impressing them from the outset: “instantly it just felt like he loved her so much”.
Hopefully, the five-year time jump will quickly establish Galadriel’s rekindled relationship with Celeborn and prove there’s nothing more sinister to the eventual Lord of Lothlórien than meets the eye.
After all, his lengthy disappearance from the show has started to feel less like Tolkien and more like Raye’s Where is My Husband? – and it’s about time fans finally got some answers.
The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power is available to watch on Prime Video from Wednesday 11 November 2026. You can sign up to Amazon Prime Video for a 30-day free trial.
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Authors
Nicola AustinFreelance Writer
Nicola Austin is a freelance journalist who loves sci-fi, fantasy and animation. Nicola has written about TV and film for a wide range of publications including Empire, Digital Spy, Radio Times, SciFiNow, Girls on Tops and more. She will always stand by The Mummy as a 90s movie masterpiece.
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