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It’s only a few weeks until we return to Middle-earth in Rings of Power season 2, and it seems like basically no one’s going to be having a good time. That’s whether they’re elves, having their kingdoms torn apart by an invading horde of evil; dwarves, having their kingdoms torn apart by balrogs; or Númenóreans, having their kingdoms torn apart by… political machinations, which is a lot less destructive, but we all know what’s going to happen there eventually is just as bad as the others. But you know what they say about dark times? They call for desperate measures, and in this latest trailer for the season, it sure looks like we’re getting some very desperate measures.
This morning Amazon revealed one last major look at the rapidly incoming sophomore season of Rings of Power, and it’s largely in line with a lot of what we’ve seen already. There’s a lot of focus on the show’s take on the War Between the Elves and Sauron (with a seeming bit of a twist, as we’ll get to); there’s also a lot of focus on Celebrimbor’s doomed partnership with the suspicious Annatar, and then even more so with growing discontent over just what all these titular rings of power might do to the leaders of Middle-earth.
But there’s also some very intriguing shots that seem to give us some surprising team-ups, like Galadriel and Adar (played this season by Sam Hazeldine, replacing Game of Thrones‘ Joseph Mawle) seemingly cozying up because they both want to stop Sauron. Speaking of which, we get to see a lot more of the latter, in his guise as Annatar, infiltrating Eregion and Celebrimbor’s forge, and the disastrous impact that’s going to have not just on the ringsmith, but all of Middle-earth. Suffice to say, no one’s doing particularly well coming into this season, and for the most part, it seems a lot them are going to come out of still doing just as badly.
Except for Sauron maybe. He seems to be having a pretty solid time, all in all. It’s kinda his show for now! He’ll get what’s coming to him eventually.
Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power returns to Amazon in a few weeks, on August 29.
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