LOTR

Roughly six weeks before fans of J.R.R. Tolkien return to Middle Earth with Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power, Prime Video has shared its lengthiest preview yet for the epic eight-part series.

“This could be the beginning of a new era,” a character says in voiceover in the teaser, which according to the streaming service, offers a glimpse at some of the Tolkien lands so far unseen on the screen: The Elven realms of Lindon and Eregion, the Dwarven realm Khazad-dûm, the Southlands, the Northernmost Wastes, the Sundering Seas, and the island kingdom of Númenór.

Set thousands of years before the original Lord of the Rings trilogy, the Rings of Power takes place in Tolkien’s fabled Second Age of Middle-Earth, “an era in which great powers were forged, kingdoms rose to glory and fell to ruin, unlikely heroes were tested, hope hung by the finest of threads, and one of the greatest villains that ever flowed from Tolkien’s pen threatened to cover all the world in darkness,” Prime Video previously said of the series, the first season of which reportedly cost $250 million.

Showrunners J.D. Payne and Patrick McKay previously said in a statement, “This is a title that we imagine could live on the spine of a book next to J.R.R. Tolkien’s other classics. The Rings of Power unites all the major stories of Middle-earth’s Second Age: the forging of the rings, the rise of the Dark Lord Sauron, the epic tale of Númenor, and the last Alliance of Elves and Men.”

The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power, one of the most anticipated shows of 2022, will debut on Prime Video on Sept. 2.