New Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power trailer brings the Balrog to San Diego Comic-Con

A new Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power trailer debuted at San Diego Comic-Con, bringing the Balrog to Hall H. The teaser offers the best look yet at the new Middle-earth series as a battle-worn Galadriel warns of a great evil coming after touching the Palantir and seeing visions of a scarred world – and there are more than a few echoes of Peter Jackson's trilogy in the footage. Check it out above.

The Rings of Power follows J. R. R. Tolkien's Second Age of Middle-earth, which was thousands of years before the main Lord of the Rings trilogy. Although there will be some familiar faces. Playing younger versions of the characters Galadriel and Elrond are Saint Maud star Morfydd Calrk and Game of Thrones actor Robert Aramayo. 

Elsewhere in the cast, Maxim Baldry plays King Isildur, Cynthia Addai-Robinson plays Míriel, Owain Arthur is Durin IV, Nazanin Boniadi plays Bronwyn, and Ismael Cruz Córdova is Arondir. Lenny Henry, Charles Edwards, Trystan Gravelle, and Simon Merrells all also star. J.D. Payne and Patrick McKay are the showrunners of the new series.

The first news ahead of the SDCC panel was the announcement Howard Shore would be returning as the series composer. The Oscar-winner worked on the original The Lord of the Rings movie trilogy and is back to compose the main title theme. While Emmy-winner Bear McCreary is on board for the series score following his work on Godzilla: King of the Monsters and The Walking Dead. 

The new Lord of the Rings show will launch on Amazon Prime Video on September 2. New episodes will then roll out weekly on the streaming platform. For more from Comic Con, check out our guide to the San Diego Comic-Con schedule.

Jack Shepherd
Freelance Journalist

Jack Shepherd is the former Senior Entertainment Editor of GamesRadar. Jack used to work at The Independent as a general culture writer before specializing in TV and film for the likes of GR+, Total Film, SFX, and others. You can now find Jack working as a freelance journalist and editor.