'The Lord of the Rings': Amazon's first sweeping teaser trailer for 'The Rings of Power' forges a new legend

The first bit of *precious* footage from Amazon's sprawling The Lord of the Rings television series is finally here! Eye-popping fantasy landscapes, a hint of brutal battle sequences, terrifying monsters that dwell in darkness, and so much more await you below.

Based on the lengthy appendices found at the end of J.R.R. Tolkien's The Return of the King novel, the show — officially subtitled The Rings of Power — debuted its teaser trailer during the Super Bowl Sunday evening. Set against the backdrop of Middle-earth's Second Age, the series will follow a number of different characters (some new and some familiar) trying to make their way through way through a world of relative peace following the defeat of the wicked Morgoth and his apprentice, Sauron.

"A new legend begins this fall," promises the teaser, which contains glimpses of a number of cast members like Robert Aramayo, Owain Arthur, Kip Chapman, Morfydd Clark, Ismael Cruz Córdova, Will Fletcher, Markella Kavenagh, Sophia Nomvete, Charlie Vickers, Benjamin Walker, and Daniel Weyman.

Cynthia Addai-Robinson, Maxim Baldry, Nazanin Boniadi,  Trystan Gravelle, Sir Lenny Henry, Ema Horvath, Joseph Mawle, Tyroe Muhafidin, Lloyd Owen, Megan Richards, Dylan Smith, Leon Wadham, and Sara Zwangobani round out the ensemble.

Check it out now:

As its title suggests, The Rings of Power is also set to explain how the titular magic objects were made and dispersed among the different races of Middle-earth. 

“Rings for the elves, rings for dwarves, rings for men, and then the one ring Sauron used to deceive them all. It’s the story of the creation of all those powers, where they came from, and what they did to each of those races," co-showrunner and executive producer Patrick McKay recently explained to Vanity Fair. He went on to state the question stretching over the entire affair was this: “Can we come up with the novel Tolkien never wrote and do it as the mega-event series that could only happen now?”

McKay shares showrunning with duties with J.D. Payne and while both of them are relative newcomers in the industry with an unproven track record, several high-ranking industry players — like J.J. Abrams and Game of Thrones producer Bryan Cogman — were willing to support their vision. 

“We were passionate about the material and had a take that matched Amazon’s appetites and ambition," Payne said to VF.

Lindsey Weber, Callum Greene, J.A. Bayona, Belén Atienza, Justin Doble, Jason Cahill, Gennifer Hutchison, Bruce Richmond, and Sharon Tal Yguado are executive producers alongside McKay and Payne. Ron Ames and Christopher Newman serve a producers while Wayne Che Yip occupies the role of co-executive producer and director. Bayona and Charlotte Brändström also directed episodes.

The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power will debut on Prime Video Friday, Sep. 2.