by Ani Bundel
Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power panel was the second panel of the day in Friday’s Hall H, part of Amazon Prime Video taking over the largest panel room of the venue. Much like The Boys, the panel started with music and composer Bear McCreary, accompanied by a full choir singing as images from the first season played around the room.
This was another enormous panel, with the entire cast in attendance. However, unlike Amazon’s first panel, this panel started with brand new footage, debuting a brand-new Season 2 trailer narrated by Charlie Vickers (aka Sauron). Joining Vickers on stage after the trailer drop, the rest of the cast included Cynthia Addai-Robinson, Robert Aramayo, Maxim Baldry, Morfydd Clark, Ismael Cruz Córdova, Charles Edwards, Trystan Gravelle, Ema Horvath, Tyrone Muhafidin, Sophia Nomvete, Lloyd Owen, Megan Richards, Benjamin, and Daniel Weyman.
The panel also introduced a new synopsis:
In Season 2, Sauron is cast out by Galadriel. Without an army or ally, the rising Dark Lord must now rely on his own cunning to rebuild his strength and oversee the creation of the Rings of Power, which will allow him to bind all the peoples of Middle-Earth to his sinister will. However, he starts season 2 with nothing. As friendships are strained and kingdoms begin to break apart, the forces of good—Elves and dwarves, orcs and men, wizards and Harfoots—will struggle ever more valiantly to hold on to what matters to them most of all: each other.
If Season 1 was a mystery of “which of these characters is Sauron in disguise,” Season 2 finished with the table setting, moving Sauron into Elven garb and focusing on the rings of the show’s title. Season 1 ended with the forging of the three rings for the Elves; Season 2 will bring forth the seven for the dwarf lords, the nine for mortal men, and the horror they slowly unleash as they drive the wearers mad.
Galadriel is significantly affected, having fallen in love with Sauron in Season 1; the promise of the rings’ power seduces her just as effectively, as she sees it as the path to defeating him. Showrunners J.D. Payne and Patrick McKay compared the new season to the dawn of the nuclear age. These rings are the bomb in Middle Earth, and everybody wants one. But once everyone has one, they discover they were all deceived; who will be foolish enough to try and detonate theirs.
The stage then was invaded by an orc in full makeup, which functioned as an introduction to introduce Sam Hazeldine and the panel’s exclusive behind-the-scenes videos on Season 2’s creatures, including an introduction of the Ents (who are described as “27 feet tall”) and Barrow-wights. “There’s no question you’re in middle earth,” one character says. “It’s a simple choice: Do you want to die in war? Or do you follow someone with poor impulse control?”
Speaking of the show’s music, Weyman, who plays The Stranger, confirmed that his scenes with Tom Bombadil (Rory Kinnear) would include songs and perhaps even dance numbers.
Unlike The Boys, The Lord of the Rings trusted their fans to ask their questions, which were decent ones, a rarity in the fan world, including if Vickers ever worries about being recast (as Sauron will eventually “lose his fair form”) and what they would name their potential real-life weapons since Elves are so famous for naming their instruments of death. 
Stay tuned for more SDCC ’24 coverage from The Beat.
