The first season of Amazon’s Lord of the Rings prequel series was a hit for Prime Video, but it certainly had its fair share of critics. One reason that so few viewers made it through The Rings of Power season 1 was that it took forever to advance the plot. The final episodes were thrilling, but viewers were forced to slog through tons of dry exposition and tedious world-building to get there. Thankfully, it doesn’t look like season 2 will make the same mistake.
At SDCC, Amazon shared the first trailer for The Rings of Power season 2 with the audience at its Hall H panel. Most of the surviving characters from the first season return, including Galadriel (Morfydd Clark), Elrond (Robert Aramyo), Arondir (Ismael Cruz Cordova), The Stranger (Daniel Weyman), Durin IV (Owain Arthur), and Sauron (Charlie Vickers).
“Sauron has returned,” reads Prime Video’s synopsis for The Rings of Power season 2. “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.”
Remember, The Rings of Power is set to run for five seasons on Prime Video, so the creators couldn’t blow through too much story in the first season. But now the groundwork has been laid. Think of the first season as the first hour or so of The Fellowship of the Ring. Now that we know who these characters are, we can see what they’re all capable of.
As mixed as my reaction was to the first season, the trailer for season 2 piqued my interest. We got a glimpse of the other rings in the Lord of the Rings trilogy, but now we’ll get the see them in action right after they’re forged. And for Tolkien diehards, we’re finally going to see beloved Tom Bombadil after he was axed from the movies.
The Rings of Power season 2 premieres on Prime Video on August 29, 2024.
