The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King
“There can be no triumph without loss. No victory without suffering. No freedom without sacrifice.”
As armies mass for a final battle that will decide the fate of the world--and powerful, ancient forces of Light and Dark compete to determine the outcome--one member of the Fellowship of the Ring is revealed as the noble heir to the throne of the Kings of Men. Yet, the sole hope for triumph over evil lies with a brave hobbit, Frodo, who, accompanied by his loyal friend Sam and the hideous, wretched Gollum, ventures deep into the very dark heart of Mordor on his seemingly impossible quest to destroy the Ring of Power.
How The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King compares
Every figure below is calculated across the whole of The Lord of the Rings, not taken from this film’s own record.
- #1 of 3
- Rank in the series by rating
- 1 year
- Wait since the previous film
- 34%
- Share of the series audience
The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003) is the highest-rated of the 3 rated films in The Lord of the Rings series, at 8.5/10 on TMDB against a series average of 8.4/10.
It arrived 1 year after The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (2002).
Its 27,347 TMDB ratings are 34% of the 80,255 cast across the series.
Computed by Movies in Order from The Movie Database (TMDB) collection data for The Lord of the Rings, comparing all 3 released films in the series. Last recalculated September 2026.
The Lord of the Rings
More from The Lord of the Rings
The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King is film 3 of 3. See the complete watch order.