A new trailer for the second season of Prime Video‘s Lord of the Rings series The Rings of Power reveals a massive scope that seems to exceed the debut season.
The trailer, revealed at Comic-Con on Friday, shows a flurry of iconic Middle Earth settings, along with some new ones, and seems to suggest an increased focus on characters that became fan favorites during the first season — namely, the Elf politician and warrior Elrond (Robert Aramayo) and the dwarf prince Durin IV (Owain Arthur), along with the series leads, elf warrior Galadriel (Morfydd Clark) and the demonic Sauron (Charlie Vickers).
As previously reported, one major character from last season isn’t returning to the show, the healer Bronwyn (Nazanin Boniadi), while a beloved character from J.R.R. Tolkien’s novels, Tom Bombadil (Rory Kinnear), has joined the ensemble.
The trailer also has, as one might expect, a heavy emphasis on the titular rings of power that Sauron forges to control all the leaders of Middle Earth (Trailer drinking game: Take a drink every time somebody says the word “ring”).
The Rings of Power debuted in 2022 as Prime Video’s most-watched premiere day and cumulatively resulted in more than 32 billion minutes streamed. While the first season received mixed reviews from fans and critics, showrunners J.D. Payne and Patrick McKay pledged to make the second season bigger and better than the first in every respect.
The official season two description: “In Season Two of The Rings of Power, Sauron has returned. Cast out by Galadriel, without army or ally, the rising Dark Lord must now rely on his own cunning to rebuild his strength and oversee the creation of the Rings of Power, which will allow him to bind all the peoples of Middle-earth to his sinister will. Building on Season One’s epic scope and ambition, the new season plunges even its most beloved and vulnerable characters into a rising tide of darkness, challenging each to find their place in a world that is increasingly on the brink of calamity. Elves and dwarves, orcs and men, wizards and Harfoots… as friendships are strained and kingdoms begin to fracture, the forces of good will struggle ever more valiantly to hold on to what matters to them most of all… each other.”
The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power debuts on Prime Video on Aug. 29.
