The Rings Of Power All But Confirms Saruman & Radagast In Season 3

Published Nov 12, 2026, 11:30 AM EST

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The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power has clarified its wizard situation, and also confirms Saruman and Radagast are closer than previously believed. As far as J.R.R. Tolkien's lore is concerned, Sauron's return in the Third Age provokes a response from the Valar: five wizards sailing to Middle-earth from the West to help counter the threat. Those wizards are Saruman the White, Gandalf the Grey, Radagast the Brown, and the two blue wizards, Alatar and Pallando.

Since The Rings of Power is set in the Second Age, wizards shouldn't be anywhere near Amazon's series. Tolkien does suggest their original maia forms could have visited Middle-earth earlier in a non-corporeal capacity, but it's still too soon for named Istari ("Gandalf," etc.) As such, there has been great confusion over exactly what's going on with The Rings of Power's wizards, especially after the appearance of a villain in Rhûn that showrunners later confirmed as one of the Blue Brothers.

Answers finally arrive in The Rings of Power season 3, and it turns out Radagast and Saruman might not be far away.

Why The Rings Of Power Has Wizards & How Many There Are

In the strangest scene of The Rings of Power season 3's opening episodes, Gandalf strikes up a conversation with the Secret Fire, which turns out to be burning with exposition.

The well-spoken flame reveals five wizards have been sent to save Middle-earth, which effectively means The Rings of Power has shifted the wizards' arrival up by a few thousand years and changed their means of transportation from a boat to flaming meteors from the sky. Not quite living up to its name, the Secret Fire spills further details, telling of how Pallando killed Alatar, leaving only four wizards on the board of play.

We've already got Daniel Weyman playing Gandalf and Ciarán Hinds playing Pallando, but if Gandalf's fiery new friend is to be believed, Saruman and Radagast are already somewhere out there in The Rings of Power, either still figuring out who they are, or working to thwart the forces of evil elsewhere.

Assuming the series doesn't get canceled early, The Rings of Power is currently only halfway through its run, leaving plenty of time to fold Saruman and Radagast into the story. It's even possible that viewers have met the remaining two wizards already, either because they're still regaining a sense of self, or because they're operating in disguise.

The Rings Of Power Season 3 Drops A Major Radagast Hint In Plain Sight

The Rings of Power's version of Radagast might only be a few small steps away. During a scene with Kemen at Pelargir, the sniveling Númenórean continues to build a fleet of mighty ships for his father by chopping down the trees of Middle-earth for wood. Curiously, Kemen mentions a "tree-talker" getting in their way.

It's possible that he's referring to an Ent here, although such creatures are slow to action and seldom seen by human eyes. They tend not to retaliate immediately, even when their own kind is being cut down, but if an Ent had assaulted the Númenórean soldiers at Pelargir, it surely would've decimated them completely.

More likely, Kemen is referring to a man who talks to the trees, and the only man in The Lord of the Rings who loves nature as much as Tom Bombadil is Radagast the Brown. The wizard clearly isn't doing much to deter Sauron or Pallando at the moment, so it makes sense that his efforts are being directed against the Númenóreans instead. Radagast also wouldn't be able to attack the soldiers directly, so would have to disrupt them in more subtle ways, which fits with Kemen's complaints.

While Saruman's whereabouts remain a mystery, it seems Radagast is very much involved in The Rings of Power already, protecting nature and being a nuisance just as he is in The Lord of the Rings. As Númenor's presence in Middle-earth strengthens, the chances of seeing Radagast in all his poop-covered glory will only increase.