You can’t tell a Lord Of The Rings story without delivering a thunderous battle sequence. The Fellowship Of The Ring hard the Uruk-hai attack in Parth Galen; The Two Towers had the battle of Helm’s Deep (as if you could forget); The Return Of The King had the battle of Pelennor Fields. And that tradition continued in The Rings Of Power series, with Season 1 delivering a pulse-quickening face-off between the Orcs and the Númenórean expeditionary force – an encounter which co-showrunner Patrick McKay says was “very consciously designed as an intimate, small-scale battle. More of a skirmish.” But in Season 2, the action is about to get way bigger.

“We love a good battle,” says McKay, promising big things in the spectacle department upon the show’s return – set to bring a significantly larger clash to our screen. “The plan with Season 2 would be to do something much bigger, on a much grander scale that would take place not just overnight, but over multiple days, weeks, months and episodes,” he teases. Charlotte Brändström, who’s taken over from J.A. Bayona as producing director for Season 2, says this battle will be “ten times bigger” than the one witnessed in the first run. “It’s really the battle of the darkness against the light,” she promises, “with some very dark and quite violent moments.”

It all comes from the escalating threat in the show – with the titular rings of power now making their way around Middle-earth, Sauron on the rise in his new guise Annatar, and our heroes having to unite to thwart the mounting forces of darkness. “Things have taken a very intense turn since Sauron is back and moving the chess pieces around the board,” says executive producer Lindsey Weber. “So we get to have a different kind of action and see Middle-earth in some more terrifying moments.” Who’s ready to dive into the heat of battle?

Read Empire‘s full The Lord Of The Rings: The Rings Of Power feature – going on set, and speaking to showrunners J.D. Payne and and Patrick McKay; stars Charlie Vickers, Morfydd Clark, Sophia Nomvete, and Daniel Weyman; director Charlotte Brändström, and more – in the August 2024 issue, on sale Thursday 4 July. Pre-order a copy here – choose the Galadriel cover, or the Sauron cover. The Lord Of The Rings: The Rings Of Power Season 2 comes to Prime Video from 29 August.