By Danielle Broadway
LOS ANGELES, July 24 (Reuters) – Fantasy TV series “Lord of the Rings: Rings of Power” and “Blade Runner 2099” made action-packed appearances at San Diego Comic-Con on Friday, unveiling first-look footage and casting news.
The “Rings of Power” panel previewed Season 3, set years after Season 2, as the War of the Elves and Sauron escalates.
Showrunners and executive producers J.D. Payne and Patrick McKay discussed the darker tone of the new season.
“We’re in a different place. Middle Earth is more dangerous than ever. Sauron is ruthless, relentless, and no one is safe,” McKay told Reuters.
“When you have a villain like that, that is as dominant as Sauron is, it just creates a different tone. And certainly, we’re going darker places than the show has gone before,” he said.
Cast members also reflected on the camaraderie built during production.
“First rehearsal, walks in this rock star,” Ismael Cruz Córdova, who plays the wood elf Arondir, said of Jamie Campbell Bower joining the Season 3 cast.
The “Stranger Things” actor plays Celeborn, husband of warrior elf Galadriel, portrayed by Morfydd Clark.
“I got welcomed onto this set by this man (Córdova),” Bower said.
The panel also revealed new cast members, including Simon Pegg as the voice of the Balrog, one of Tolkien’s most feared creatures.
Returning cast members include Cynthia Addai-Robinson as Míriel, Robert Aramayo as Elrond, Owain Arthur as Durin IV and Morfydd Clark as Galadriel.
Based on J.R.R. Tolkien’s “Lord of the Rings” works, Season 3 follows the Siege of Eregion and the death of Celebrimbor, played by Charles Edwards, at the end of Season 2.
“Rings of Power” Season 3 premieres on Prime Video on November 11, 2026.
Prime Video also debuted footage from “Blade Runner 2099,” featuring Michelle Yeoh as Olwen, a bioengineered humanoid called a Replicant, and Hunter Schafer as Cora, a human fugitive. The panel footage showed Olwen interrogating a tortured Cora, hinting at a tense relationship between the characters.
Created by Silka Luisa, “Blade Runner 2099” is a limited series set in the “Blade Runner” franchise, inspired by Philip K. Dick’s 1968 novel “Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?”, Ridley Scott’s 1982 film “Blade Runner” and Denis Villeneuve’s 2017 sequel, “Blade Runner 2049.”
Though the original film underperformed at the box office, it became a cult classic that spawned comics, novels, live events and merchandise.
“Blade Runner 2099” premieres on Prime Video on November 25, 2026.
(Reporting by Danielle Broadway, Rollo Ross and Arafat Barbakh; Editing by Tom Hogue)
