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Amazon MGM Studios has spent the last couple of days slowly teasing out what is coming to the next season of The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power, and with its San Diego Comic Con panel now over, we have a trailer highlighting what’s coming next. It shouldn’t be a shock to anyone who has been watching this show so far to say that everything has been building up to a big showdown with Sauron, though not the big showdown you’re expecting if you’ve ever seen the beginning of Fellowship of the Ring.
There’s a lot happening in this trailer, and it seems to be happening at many different times. The trailer suggests that Sauron is building an army, and all of Middle-earth is trying to find ways to stop him. We see early versions of the Nazgûl (Ringwraiths), which this show calls Nazganôl (Ring servant). These are Men of Middle-earth who have been given great Rings by Sauron, but have not yet died and become the haunted spirits with those terrifying screeches.
At the same time, new allies appear for the good guys. There’s a glimpse at an Uruk named Marnûkh helping Elven hero Arondir see the real dangers of the land Sauron covered in darkness, and Galadriel‘s long-lost husband Celeborn (played by Jamie Campbell Bower) emerges to keep his wife from further temptation. Sorry, Haladriel fans. We also see Elendil with an army of what appears to be those banished from Númenor, ready to beat back the forces of evil. The stage appears set for a big fight, but there’s still quite a bit missing from this picture.
More interesting than what we do see in this trailer is what we don’t. Númenor itself is barely shown, though we get two glimpses of its last king, Ar-Pharazon, in and out of ceremonial armor to possibly suggest participation in the fight. Newly forged King Durin is seen defending his mountain from what looks like Nazganôl, but he and his best friend Elrond are barely seen in this trailer. Given the role they likely play in this season, it’s a really interesting choice. Númenor, especially, should be really interesting soon.
Finally, the Stranger-turned-Grand-Elf-turned-Wizard Gandalf is briefly shown conversing with the man we’ve been told is a dark Wizard of some kind. We know from Tolkien’s writings that Wizards as a group weren’t really involved in the big battles that led up to Sauron’s first downfall, but there’s a line about accepting that their death may be the only way to win that draws a fantastic line to Gandalf’s eventual transformation into the White Wizard. Also, where are our little proto-Hobbits?
Rings of Power season 3 will start dropping weekly episodes on Nov. 11, meaning this show will be airing at the same time the Peter Jackson films will be celebrating their 25th anniversary. And I’ll be here each week to break down how each episode follows and deviates from Tolkien’s writing, just like I’ve done for season 1 and season 2.
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