Second Age: Rings of Power

Actress Sophia Nomvete plays the dwarven Princess Disa of Khazad-Dum

"We wanted to find a huge, Tolkienian mega epic!"


That's how showrunner Patrick McKay described his mission for The Rings of Power - Amazon Prime's hotly anticipated Lord of the Rings TV spin-off, as he unveiled a new trailer and unseen footage at San Diego Comic-Con on Thursday.


In his armoury: a huge cast of comely elves, a rare female dwarf, the Hobbits' ancestors, a seriously impressive CGI city, a mystery menace, an entwife and a surprise Balrog.


The Rings of Power is the most expensive show ever made, at $1bn (£832m) for five seasons - and this is fans' best guide to how it will look, sound and feel.


But what everyone really wants to know is, can it compete with Peter Jackson's beloved Lord of the Rings film trilogy, the winner of 17 Oscars, benchmark for composers, and populariser of Second Breakfast?


Wisely, it's not trying - instead setting the action 4,000 years before the Hobbits Frodo and Sam journeyed through Middle Earth.


This is the Second Age, where the 20 Rings of Power are forged and the evil Sauron, Lord of Mordor, rises to assault the realms' hard-won peace.


The source material is Tolkien's appendix to the Lord of the Rings books. The core question: "How far into the darkness would you go to protect the things you care about the most?" says McKay's fellow showrunner JD Payne.  READ MORE...