‘The Lord of the Rings: Rings of Power’ Drops New Trailer 1 Week Before Premiere

Amazon’s new fantasy series The Lord of the Rings: Rings of Power just dropped one more trailer ahead of its highly-anticipated premiere. The series begins on Friday, Sept. 2 on Prime Video, but before that we got one last trailer. It gives us a better idea of the story and the main characters, as well as some unbelievable action shots.

Rings of Power is set thousands of years before The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings, but that doesn’t mean there won’t be familiar characters. Because J.R.R. Tolkien’s elves are virtually immortal, we will see younger versions of Galdriel and Elrond in this story. Both of them feature heavily in the trailer, where it appears Galadriel (Morfydd Clark) is leading the charge on some battles against orcs. We also see this version of Elrond (Robert Aramayo) vying for peace among mortals.

The new trailer also introduces us to Maxim Baldry as Isildur, the infamous leader of men played briefly by Harry Sinclair in Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings film trilogy. However, this show will show us Isildur’s backstory from the time he was simply a warrior sailing over from the mythical island nation of Númenor, and far from the king we know he becomes.

Other characters highlighted in this trailer are the human warrior Halbrand (Charles Vickers), the elven smith Celebrimbor (Charles Edwards) and the dwarf king Durin III (Peter Mullan). Near the end we hear from the era’s version of hobbits as well – the Harfoots Poppy Proudfellow (Megan Richard) and Nori Brandyfoot (Markella Kavenagh).

For those unaware, Tolkien described four “ages” in his fictional history for Middle Earth. The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings took place in the “Third Age,” while Rings of Power will take place in the “Second Age.” It is based mostly on material from the appendices of Tolkien’s novels as well as some background from his other writings like The Silmarillion. For those that want to read along, a new book will be published in November compiling all of Tolkien’s writings about the Second Age.

For now, Amazon’s logline tells us that the show “will take viewers back to an era in which great powers were forged, kingdoms rose to glory and fell to ruin, unlikely heroes were tested, hope hung by the finest of threads, and the greatest villain that ever flowed from Tolkien’s pen threatened to cover all the world in darkness. Beginning in a time of relative peace, the series follows an ensemble cast of characters, both familiar and new, as they confront the long-feared re-emergence of evil to Middle-earth. From the darkest depths of the Misty Mountains, to the majestic forests of the elf-capital of Lindon, to the breathtaking island kingdom of Númenor, to the furthest reaches of the map, these kingdoms and characters will carve out legacies that live on long after they are gone.”

Rings of Power premieres on Friday, Sept. 2 on Prime Video. Tolkien’s writings are available now in print, digital and audiobook format.