Lavish The Rings of Power S2 trailer debuts at San Diego Comic-Con

Among the many highlights of last weekend's San Diego Comic-Con was the official full trailer for the second season of The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power. Sauron has returned and is plotting his takeover of Middle-earth. Will donning the titular rings make the wearers his adversaries—or his collaborators?

(Spoilers for S1 below.)

As previously reported, Prime Video made a major investment in The Rings of Power when it acquired the rights to the source material from the Tolkien estate, even committing to multiple seasons upfront. Pretty much everyone guessed long before the S1 finale's reveal that Halbrand (Charlie Vickers), king of the Southlands, was Sauron in disguise. Fans even dubbed him "Hot Sauron." He took advantage of the fact that the elvish light of Valar was fading, putting the race of elves in danger of extinction unless they returned to Valinor to preserve their immortality. The discovery of the precious ore mithril gave the elves another option championed by Elrond (Robert Aramayo), Galadriel (Morfydd Clark), and the elven smith Celebrimbor (Charles Edwards).

But there was only a little mithril available since King Durin III (Peter Mullan) refused any further mining. Unfortunately, Galadriel unwittingly brought Halbrand into the fray, and he suggested bonding the mithril with another metal, claiming it would amplify the mithril's power—when the opposite was true. The season ended with the forging of the three elven rings out of an alloy of mithril and the gold and silver of Valinor: Narya (the Ring of Fire), to be worn by Gil-galad (Benjamin Walker); Nenya (the Ring of Water), to be worn by Galadriel; and Vilya (the Ring of Air), to be worn by Elrond.

Darkness will bind them

S2 will explore the consequences of Galadriel's actions in the S1 finale. We also know that the Harfoot Nori and The Stranger will travel to the land of Rhûn in the east of Middle-earth, a new setting for the series, and apparently, there will be a "massive" two-episode battle. Per the official premise:

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 first S2 teaser dropped in May, with a tantalizing shot of "Hot Elf Sauron" creating Barad-dûr toward the teaser's end. The new trailer opens with Galadriel's voiceover telling us that Sauron "sees himself as master of all of Middle-earth. He seeks to rule it not only through conquest but by bending the minds of all its peoples to his own. And for that he needs not armies, but rings." We see Galadriel putting on one of the rings over Elrond's strenuous objection. And she's not the only one. "In choosing to wear those rings, you have all become his collaborators," Elrond says, insisting the rings must be destroyed.

Galadriel begs to differ, believing her ring is guiding her.  The other bearers are reluctant to give up their rings as well, but eventually, they band together to take on Sauron's forces, and we get some eye-popping footage of the aforementioned mega-battle. Remember: "When the darkness falls, there are always some who rise forth and shine."

The Rings of Power S2 premieres on August 29, 2024, on Prime Video. You can also check out a featurette below, introducing a host of creatures: Barrow-wights, Hill-trolls, and Sea-worms, as well as Orcs, Ents, and the youthful version of the ravenous giant spider Shelob.

Listing image by YouTube/Prime Video