This past weekend at San Diego Comic-Con, Prime Video released an epic new three-and-a-half-minute long trailer for J. D. Payne and Patrick McKay's The Lord Of The Rings: The Rings Of Power Season 2. Boasting colossal cavalry charges, the return of Charlie Vickers and Morfydd Clark's Dark Lord Sauron and ethereal Elf Galadriel, plenty of preciouses, and a plethora of beasts and creatures making their Rings Of Power debuts in the new episodes, it's safe to say there was a lot to take in. Amongst the aforementioned Season 2 debutants are undead foes the Barrow-wights, Wraith-like figures introduced in J.R.R. Tolkien's The Fellowship Of The Ring, but never seen before on screen until now. And you can get a closer look at the nightmare-fuel phantoms in Empire's exclusive new BTS featurette. Check it out:
"Something I love about this world is we have true darkness, true evil," says Galadriel actor Clark. And the Barrow-wights — who, as we learn here, are actually the cursed souls of ancient heroes — certainly check both the darkness and evil boxes. Set to feature in a sequence VFX supervisor Jason Smith previously described to Empire as being Rings' version of "a horror movie in Middle-earth," the Barrow-wights are brought to life — or undeath — in The Rings Of Power using a combination of prosthetic practical effects and cutting edge VFX wizardry. The result, as we see in this featurette, is properly chilling and makes our old demon-spider pal Shelob look like a cuddly lil' pet by comparison.
Fans can look forward to finding out what happens during Galadriel, Elrond (Robert Aramayo), and their elven cohort's encounter with the blue-eyed Barrow-wights when The Lord Of The Rings: The Rings Of Power Season 2 hits our screens on 29 August. Until then, we're going to avoid all woods, tombs, graveyards, and generally dark places... just in case!