It's no secret whatsoever just how much Amazon has invested in its spin-off show from The Lord of the Rings. It pushed the first season of The Rings of Power hard – no surprise, given it cost an apparent £360-million ($465m) – and now it's got a second season just around the corner.
The show will return on 29 August, at the end of this month, and after a long build-up we've finally got a full trailer to digest – it dropped at the San Diego Comic-Con last weekend, and has loads to get to grips with.
In just under four minutes of footage there are glimpses of all manner of locations and plotlines, and the production values are as incredibly high – as we've started to expect from Amazon's flagship shows. That's why it's one of the best streaming services, after all.
Now that Sauron is out in the open and moving around Middle Earth pursuing his aims, the focus of the show should move from set-up and preparation into the real meat of the matter – and those all-important rings are clearly on the cusp of being forged and distributed.
We all know how this ends, of course, but it's clear that we're going to get some crazy battles and moments between now and then. Sauron will place rings before the leaders of elves, men and dwarves, and it's clear that they'll immediately sow the seeds of division as different characters resist or embrace them.
That's the great tragedy that the show aims to show, of course – the downfall of empires and kingdoms under Sauron's scheming. Along the way, we'll get glimpses at some historic sights – not least a clear look at an appearance from a (or the) Balrog, looking familiar to fans of the Jackson movies.
This isn't even the only footage that you can sink your teeth into: Amazon had more to share from SDCC. There's a great behind-the-scenes featurette called Call to Adventure which gives a good sense of how monumental the production really is on the show, and it features looks at a few moments that weren't in the trailer, too.
So, while the first season might have divided opinion between critical praise and audience revulsion (as proved by Rotten Tomatoes), Amazon will hope that its new set of episodes can help it be crowned as the best streaming service for fantasy fans.
