Comic-Con 2022: ‘The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power’ Panel Debuts New Trailer

Everything about Prime Video’s Tolkien adaptation ‘The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power’ has been gigantic so far. The amount of money that parent company Amazon paid to secure the rights to the author’s appendices, from which this new story is drawn.

The budget lavished on the new show. The size of the cast. The scale. The shoot.

It makes sense, then, that the San Diego Comic-Con panel would be suitably huge. And so it was, taking over the Hall H stage with composer Bear McCreary conducting a live orchestra playing the score for the show and a long event hosted by noted Tolkien fan Stephen Colbert.

While the likes of showrunners Patrick McKay and JD Payne weren’t willing to reveal all their secrets, they and a selection of their cast did show up to talk about the series – and to show several clips.

Morfydd Clark (Galadriel) in Prime Video's 'The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power.' Credit: Courtesy of Prime Video. Copyright: Amazon Studios.

‘The Rings of Power’ unites all the major stories of Middle-earth’s Second Age: the forging of the rings, the rise of the Dark Lord Sauron, the epic tale of Númenor, and the Last Alliance of Elves and Men.

The “Second Age” refers to a long period in the history of Middle Earth that ends with the defeat of Sauron and precedes Tolkien’s book and Peter Jackson’s ‘Lord of the Rings’ movie trilogy, which take place during the Third Age. The titular Rings of Power were forged in this era and 19 of them were given to elves, dwarves, and humans to incentivize them to support Sauron’s reign. The One Ring, which figures so heavily into the plot of the original trilogy is the most powerful of the 20 (it’s what Frodo and the gang travelled all that way to destroy, after all). The official description mentions an evil even greater than Sauron, which probably points Morgoth, a god-like creature who tried to rule Middle-earth – and that had Sauron serving as his general.

A key part of this first season is The Stranger (Daniel Weyman), who crashes down to Middle-earth from the sky with a comet that brings cold fire. The team wouldn’t be drawn on who he might be, but he’s certainly likely to be important.

For these stories, the focus is more on characters such as Galadriel, the powerful elf played in the movies by Cate Blanchett, but brought to life here by Morfydd Clark.

Morfydd Clark (Galadriel) in Prime Video's 'The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power.' Credit: Courtesy of Prime Video. Copyright: Amazon Studios.

Clark was among the cast members who showed up to talk about make-up struggles, the challenges of shooting and their joy at bringing Tolkien’s world to life.

Among the highlights? Sophia Nomvete, who plays female dwarf Disa, one of the first to be featured prominently in a Tolkien adaptation.

And, as is traditional for Comic-Con, the panel featured plenty of clips that are, sadly, not going to be made public (we’ll just have to wait for the show itself). A new trailer, however, did make its way online and you can see that below.

‘The Lord of the Rings’: The Rings of Power will be on Prime Video starting 2 September.

(L to R) Owain Arthur (Prince Durin IV), Robert Aramayo (Elrond), Charles Edwards (Celebrimbor), and Benjamin Walker (High King Gil-galad) in Prime Video's 'The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power.' Credit: Courtesy of Prime Video. Copyright: Amazon Studios.

Owain Arthur (Prince Durin IV) in Prime Video's 'The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power.' Credit: Courtesy of Prime Video. Copyright: Amazon Studios.

(L to R) Nazanin Boniadi (Bronwyn), and Ismael Cruz Córdova (Arondir) in Prime Video's 'The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power.' Credit: Courtesy of Prime Video. Copyright: Amazon Studios.

Prime Video's 'The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power.' Credit: Courtesy of Prime Video. Copyright: Amazon Studios.

Cynthia Addai-Robinson (Queen Regent Míriel) in Prime Video's 'The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power.' Credit: Courtesy of Prime Video. Copyright: Amazon Studios.

Charlie Vickers (Halbrand) in Prime Video's 'The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power.' Credit: Courtesy of Prime Video. Copyright: Amazon Studios.

Robert Aramayo (Elrond)in Prime Video's 'The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power.' Credit: Courtesy of Prime Video. Copyright: Amazon Studios.

(L to R) Morfydd Clark (Galadriel), and Fabian McCallum in Prime Video's 'The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power.' Credit: Courtesy of Prime Video. Copyright: Amazon Studios.

(L to R) Trystan Gravelle (Pharazôn), and Ema Horvath (Eärien) in Prime Video's 'The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power.' Credit: Courtesy of Prime Video. Copyright: Amazon Studios.

Prime Video's 'The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power.' Credit: Courtesy of Prime Video. Copyright: Amazon Studios.

Morfydd Clark is Galadriel in Prime Video's 'The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power.' Credit: Courtesy of Prime Video. Copyright: Amazon Studios.