The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power has confirmed season 2’s release date in a first-look trailer.

The Prime Video series set in JRR Tolkien’s Middle-earth first debuted nearly two years ago, and ended on a big cliffhanger as villain Sauron was finally unmasked.

In a first trailer for the next set of episodes, we get a look at Charlie Vickers in a new form of the Dark Lord, having been disguised as character Halbrand in the first season.

“An evil ancient and powerful has returned,” prince Durin declares, as we get a sense of the growing darkness in Middle-earth, before a voice says that Sauron “has been here among us all along”.

We then see Vickers’s Elven-like form of Sauron, who is later confronted by soldiers before casting dark magic.

The trailer confirms that season 2 will premiere on August 29 – so mark your calendars.

“In season two of The Rings of Power, Sauron has returned,” the synopsis reveals. “Cast out by Galadriel, without 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.

The new season “plunges even its most beloved and vulnerable characters into a rising tide of darkness” and will challenge them to “each to find their place in a world that is increasingly on the brink of calamity”.

“Elves and dwarves, orcs and men, wizards and Harfoots… as friendships are strained and kingdoms begin to fracture, the forces of good will struggle ever more valiantly to hold on to what matters to them most of all… each other,” it concludes.

Filming on season 2 concluded earlier this year, while creators Patrick McKay and JD Payne were reported at the time to be putting together early ideas for season 3 – though the show is yet to be officially renewed for a third run.