With the name The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power, most fans have assumed the show takes place between the years 1500-1700 of the Second Age. Along Middle-earth's timeline, this era marks the creation of the Rings of Power, as well as the downfall of their creator -- Celebrimbor. However, with the epic scale of the show, it seems unlikely that it'll stop at the creation of the One Ring, which means it may very well bring Sauron's servants, the Nazgûl, back to live action.
Celebrimbor, Sauron and Mordor have all made an appearance in some shape or form during the show; meaning all the pieces are falling into place for the creation of the rings. Detailed in the appendix for The Lord of the Rings, the Rings of Power were forged in the year 1500 SA (Second Age). Sauron's One Ring was then forged 100 years later, and used to dominate the other rings.
Given the huge time-jump between key events, fans have been wondering how the show will tackle this. For Elves, the leap in years makes no difference as they age incredibly slowly. But for all the non-Elven characters, it would be a shame to cycle past them for the sake of accuracy. Yet judging by the episodes so far, it would seem the show is telling a condensed version of events, meaning the forging of the One Ring and Nazgûl may come far sooner than expected.
While Sauron is obviously the major villain of The Lord of the Rings, it's the Nazgûl who see the most screen time and pose the biggest threat to Frodo. Given this, it would seem obvious to return them to The Rings of Power. However, there are a couple issues standing in the way. The first issue is the time period, as while the show has condensed some events, the first reported sighting of the Nazgûl is in the year 2251. This would be over 700 years after the current episodes, which may be too far a leap to jump.
The next and most difficult problem comes from the identity of the Nazgûl. Despite author J.R.R. Tolkien writing an incredible amount of detail about his world, he never gave names to the nine men Sauron corrupted into the Nazgûl. It's simply said that they were great lords and warriors of men, and almost all their history has been shrouded in mystery.
For a show titled The Rings of Power, it would seem strange to not know who ends up with the rings, which places the showrunners in a predicament. They either never reveal the nine men, which could cause some confusion among casual audiences. Or they create entirely new characters, which already has caused grumblings in the Tolkien fandom. But if the show does choose one of these options, it seems plausible that the Nazgûl would soon follow.
Once the Nazgûl are introduced into Middle-earth's timeline, they appear during battles more often than the Dark Lord himself, so they could make for perfect antagonists for the show. They'd give characters a smaller threat to deal with before confronting the big bad, which fans have already seen defeated in the movies. But of course, this is all dependent on how far The Rings of Power is willing to go along the timeline. Although, given the show's popularity, it undoubtedly has many seasons to come.
The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power debuts new episodes Fridays on Prime Video.