'Rings of Power' SDCC Trailer Showcases the Legend of Sauron

Only a week after Prime Video shared its longest look at The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power to date, the streamer brought a trailer to San Diego Comic-Con. You can watch that new footage below.

The epic series, which drops Sept. 2 on Prime Video, is set thousands of years before the events of The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings, during the Second Age — a time kingdoms were still rising, every realm was threatened with darkness, and the eponymous rings were forged.

Based on J.R.R. Tolkien's works but also featuring new backstory, the show begins in a relatively peaceful time but soon enough the long-feared reemergence of evil to Middle-earth becomes a very real possibility. It will not only follow the forging of the rings and therefore the creation of powers, but it will also explore where the powers game from, the ascent of Sauron, the rise and fall of Númenor, and The Last Alliance of Elves and Men.

The sprawling cast of characters from various races include Galadriel (Morfydd Clark) Isildur (Maxim Baldry), Elendil (Lloyd Owen), Pharazôn (Trystan Gravelle), Queen Regent Míriel (Cynthia Addai-Robinson), Elrond (Robert Aramayo), High King Gil-galad (Benjamin Walker), Marigold Brandyfoot (Sara Zwangobani), Elanor "Nori" Brandyfoot (Markella Kavenagh), Poppy Proudfellow (Megan Richards), Sadoc Burrows (Sir Lenny Henry), The Stranger (Daniel Weyman), Dwarf King Durin III (Peter Mullan), Dwarf Prince Durin IV (Owain Arthur), Halbrand (Charlie Vickers), and Arondir (Ismael Cruz Córdova).

The Rings of Power comes from showrunners J.D. Payne and Patrick McKay. Other executive producers on the series are Lindsey Weber, Callum Greene, J.A. Bayona, Belén Atienza, Justin Doble, Jason Cahill, Gennifer Hutchison, Bruce Richmond, and Sharon Tal Yguado. Wayne Che Yip serves as co-executive producer and director, while J.A. Bayona and Charlotte Brändström also direct, and and Ron Ames and Christopher Newman serve as producers.

Although acting as a prequel for The Lord of the Rings, the series follows the film adaptations by decades. The first in that series, The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, was released in 2001 and earned a Metascore of 82, while the sequel, The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers, followed the next year and earned a Metascore of 87. The third film, The Lord of the Rings; The Return of the King, wrapped up the trilogy in 2003 and earned a Metascore of 94.