Theo's Shocking Rings Of Power Season 3 Transformation & Sauron Alliance Broken Down By LOTR Star

Published Nov 13, 2026, 11:00 AM EST

Grant Hermanns is a TV News Editor, Interview Host and Reviewer for ScreenRant, having joined the team in early 2021. He got his start in the industry with Moviepilot, followed by working at ComingSoon.net. When not indulging in his love of film/TV, Grant is making his way through his gaming backlog and exploring the world of Dungeons & Dragons with friends.

Sign in to your ScreenRant account

Warning: Some SPOILERS lie ahead for The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power season 3's first four episodes!Theo is entering his darkest era yet in The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power season 3.

Played by Tyroe Muhafidin, the young character begins the Prime Video prequel to J.R.R. Tolkien's classic as the teenage son of Nazanin Boniadi's Bronwyn living in the village of Tirharad in the Southlands. While season 1 saw him hesitant to embrace the Elves of Middle-earth amid his mother's love for warrior Arondir, season 2 followed them both processing their grief over Bronwyn's death following the eruption of Mount Doom and the emergence of Mordor.

Coming into The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power season 3, which picks up five years later, Theo has been working as a slave under the Númenorians in Pelargir, as Pharazôn's ruling has him expanding the empire's scope and power. Feeling lost without his mother's guidance, or that of Arondir or Morfydd Clark's Galadriel, Theo instead finds himself drawn in a darker direction with Charlie Vickers' Sauron, particularly after the promise of answering the mystery of who his father was.

Ahead of the show's return, ScreenRant's Grant Hermanns interviewed Tyroe Muhafidin to discuss The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power season 3. When asked about any conversations had with showrunners J.D. Payne and Patrick McKay about Theo's life during the five-year time jump between seasons, the star shared that the pair laid out the path for him in which "his story picks up exactly where it left off," with there being "no positive change" for his character, and their goal was to find how to physically embody that:

Tyroe Muhafidin: The last we saw of him last season, the Númenorians came and settled, and over the next five years, the Southlanders and the people of Pelargir were enslaved to be chopping trees to build Númenor's armada. That's what Theo's been doing for the last five years, and I spoke to J.D. and Patrick about that, and what that looked like. We had to figure out a physicality of what it looks like when all the youthfulness in his body has been taken away. He's now tired and worn down, and five years older, and it's been five years of hard labor. So, what does that look like? That was a really fun part of acting that I'd never really explored before.

Expounding on that physicality, evidenced by Theo's first scene in The Rings of Power season 3 chopping at a tree in Pelargir's forest, Muhafidin chuckled as he said that "they got me in the gym" for his transformation, which lasted for "about a four-month period." Having started on the Lord of the Rings prequel when he was just 15, the star humorously shared that he "basically still looked like a skinny teenage boy" when he was told what the plan was for Theo in season 3.

With a focus on "pushing weights" in training, Muhafidin ultimately gained 12 kilos, equivalent to 26 pounds, coming into The Rings of Power season 3, a growth that he was "very happy with" as he had "never really been able to put on weight as a kid." This further allowed for a natural progression of "moving around with a lot more weight in my body" and "more power in the way that I step," giving Theo a more intimidating presence.

But the physical side isn't the only shocking transformation Theo's gone through in the five-year jump for The Rings of Power season 3, as Muhafidin explains that his Lord of the Rings character has "completely lost all hope" following the previous seasons' events, and therefore has "nothing to lose" as he starts to make his morally questionable choices:

Tyroe Muhafidin: He's given up any hope of a good life. He's kind of at a point of acceptance that he's bound for a world of pain, a life of pain and suffering, because that's what his people have had for thousands of years. It's really sad. But yeah, he's at a point where all the people that once cared for him are gone, and he has no one left.

The Rings Of Power Has Been An Emotional Launch For Muhafidin's Acting Career

ScreenRant: Before we dive into The Rings of Power season 3, I'd love to start with the fact that you started this show when you were about 15. You're an adult now, you've gone through some of your more formative years while working on the show. I'd love to know what that experience has been like for you, both as a person, and as a performer.

Tyroe Muhafidin: Yeah, it's interesting because I think I've had a very interesting life. There's so much glitz and glam and amazing opportunities that I've been able to do at such a young age, and it's incredible. But at the same time, there've been really difficult moments. The first season we shot, that was two years that we were in New Zealand, and because of COVID, I couldn't fly back and forth between home and there. So, I basically didn't see any of my friends or any of my family. I just had my mum with me. I've got four siblings, and my dad's at home too. That was really, really difficult, and I feel like it was a really hard slog of just getting through it, and being like, "I'll see my people soon." And I think that's the difficult thing is trying to navigate a lot of my relationships when I'm kind of all over the world all the time, and I'm never home. Those things have been difficult, but it's a price worth paying. I've met some amazing people along the way, too, and I can go home now whenever I want. So, I'm really lucky and super blessed.

ScreenRant: Speaking of some of the relationships you've made on set, you have such an incredible group of people to work with, both on camera and behind the camera. Given this came along in your earlier years of acting. I'd love to know, whether it's from a note that you were given by someone or watching one of your co-stars perform, what's been one of the most impactful or insightful lessons you've learned for acting?

Tyroe Muhafidin: I think the big thing — and this is a huge shout-out to Charlotte Brändström, who has directed in every single season of this show. I remember in the first season, I was so shy, and I was just a kid, and I was nervous. This was such a big job, and I would just do as I was told, practically, and I was happy doing that. But there were times I remember when I was young, and I would have ideas, but there's all these people that are professionals, and have spent their entire lives doing this. Why should anyone listen to me? Like, I shouldn't have any ideas. [Chuckles] And I just remember the first time with Charlotte, when she asked me, "What do you think?" I was a bit taken back, like, "Oh, I'm only 15, and you're asking me what I think?" Charlotte was one of the first people that really gave me agency as an actor from a young age, and made me feel equal to all my co-stars, who were all adults, and decorated professionals. She made sure to make me feel like I deserved to be there, and I was part of everything. I'm so grateful that she's been here for the whole journey, because she's been one of my biggest advocates the whole time. I really can't thank her enough for it.

Choose the movie with the higher Rotten Tomatoes score.

ScreenRant: What's been your favorite thing to have pitched as an element of Theo throughout this show to the people involved?

Tyroe Muhafidin: My actual favorite is from this very [specific] moment. The scene was me running out from the barn in the first season, and right before Bronwyn gets shot, I don't know if you noticed, if anyone's noticed it when they watched it, but I suggested that an arrow flew by and hit my ear. Charlotte basically was like, "Do we need that? Do we want that? Do you want that to happen?" And I kind of said, "What if it brushed past, hit my ear, and killed the guy behind me?" And Charlotte was like, "I love that. We're doing that, "and it's in the show. That was my very first idea that I was like, "What if we do that?" Charlotte loved it, and everyone loved it, and watching it back, I think it's so awesome watching it happen, because it was a really cool sequence, but it is very small. You'd have to probably break it down frame by frame to watch it happen. It's very quick, but it was still my very first idea that got put into the show.

ScreenRant: So, I was quite surprised to see Theo start to align himself a little more with Sauron. But, like you say, he's lost all hope. He feels like he doesn't know how to reclaim agency and power. I'd love to hear about getting to explore that dynamic this season, and also what it was like working alongside Charlie to really figure out what that dynamic looked like between Sauron and Theo.

Tyroe Muhafidin: Yeah, I think the interesting thing about their relationship is how desperately Theo needed Sauron — or not Sauron, but just someone to guide him. He just needed some sense of guidance, and I think that's the tragic thing is that it could have been anyone that lent out a hand. Unfortunately, it was the Dark Lord himself. [Laughs] But yeah, working with the Dark Lord himself was an absolute dream. Charlie was just the best. I think from the first season, Charlie kind of put an arm around me in an uncle sort of way. I used to go around to his hotel room and play FIFA like all the time, just because I was away in New Zealand. I didn't have any of my friends around, so he would play PlayStation with me, and he was kind of like a big brother/uncle figure. So, coming into this season, that relationship between us was already established, and we could just lean into where the intentions behind this relationship came from. We kind of already had this chemistry, and it was just now adding those dark little flings to it. And watching Charlie be able to do that was such an honor. He was so incredible. The way he would just flip in and out from being Charlie Vickers to being Sauron was incredible to watch. And he truly inspired me because he would go from being the humblest, kindest, most generous man ever, and then immediately, when the cameras started rolling, became so terrifying and so scary.

• Tyroe Muhafidin on Rings of Power season 3's big premiere death and the fallout for other characters
• Our Rings of Power season 3 review
• Our in-depth look at Rings of Power season 3, episode 4's ending

The next two episodes of The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power season 3 premiere on Prime Video on November 18, followed by the final two episodes on November 25!

• 

  Galadriel

• 

  Ismael Cruz Cordova

  Arondir

Set in the Second Age of Middle-earth, The Rings of Power explores the forging of the iconic rings, the rise of the Dark Lord Sauron, and the epic events leading up to the stories in J.R.R. Tolkien's classic novels.