The new ‘Lord of the Rings’ trailer stars Sauron, orcs and a balrog

By Scottie Andrew, CNN

The newest trailer for Amazon’s upcoming “Lord of the Rings” series provides pivotal new glimpses of the dastardly evil plaguing Middle Earth, including Sauron himself, orcs and — my goodness, was that a balrog?!

Premiering at San Diego Comic-Con, the new trailer for “Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Fire” shades in some new details about the series, which takes place thousands of years before the events of J.R.R. Tolkien’s “Lord of the Rings” trilogy. The new series will follow a mostly new cast of characters save for some familiar faces like Galadriel, the elegant elven leader and accomplished warrior.

The trailer opens with a mourning Galadriel on a scorched battlefield. She thought she was done warring, that “our joys would be unending,” she says — but she can feel the presence of evil.

“It is here, Galadriel,” a character warns our heroine. “The moment we feared.”

That moment, this trailer confirms, is the rise of Sauron, the titular lord of the rings. We finally hear a character utter his cursed name, and we see glimpses of an evil being with creepily long, razor-sharp fingernails that terrifies members of the series’ ensemble cast.

But there’s one who can defeat him — and according to the trailer, it’s a boy named Theo. He’s Galadriel’s key to snuffing out Sauron’s evil (though, as “Lord of the Rings” fans know, he of course returns).

“Find the lad and the shadow will not find you,” a character tells Galadriel. Perhaps her arc will see her journeying across Middle Earth to find Theo, who at one point in the trailer wields a black sword that appears out of thin air.

Dwarves, elves and other warriors populate the trailer, as well as new glimpses at orcs, the slimy, fearsome monsters that eventually serve in Sauron’s infantry.

And just when you think the trailer’s done, you hear the guttural rumblings of a primordial creature. Could it be … yes! It’s a balrog, one of the fiery terrors that “Fellowship of the Rings” readers and viewers will remember as the giant foe who appeared to die and take Gandalf with him.

The epic series has been in the works since 2017 and is thought to be the most expensive TV series ever made — per the Hollywood Reporter, its first season cost an estimated $465 million to create.

The series premieres on September 2, with episodes releasing weekly.

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