San Diego, July 27 (Reuters) -

"Lord of the Rings: Rings of Power" unveiled the first look

at Season 2 on Friday as the cast shared insights into what is

coming next in the fantasy series at San Diego Comic-Con.

The fantasy series is based on appendices in J.R.R.

Tolkien's original "The Lord of the Rings" novels and is set

thousands of years before the events of "The Hobbit" and "The

Lord of the Rings" novels and films.

Although the show is called "Rings of Power," the first

season did not include any of the franchise's coveted rings, but

they will appear at the beginning of the second season.

The cast of the Amazon Prime Video series is led by

Morfydd Clark, who plays the almost immortal elf named Galadriel

and Ismael Cruz Cordova, who plays the elf named Arondir along

with showrunners Patrick McKay and J.D. Payne.

For Clark, wearing one of the iconic rings with conviction

for Season 2 was a more arduous task than she initially

expected.

"Weirdly, putting on a ring in an elegant way without

looking like you're trying too hard was much harder than I

expected," she told Reuters in an interview at San Diego

Comic-Con.

The upcoming season, which premieres on Aug. 29, will

reunite friends as they work together in a war against the

corruption of the rings.

At the end of the first season the character, Halbrand,

played by Charlie Vickers, was revealed to be the biggest

villain in the "Lord of the Rings" franchise named Sauron, who

wishes to rule Middle-Earth. This reveal, according to Vickers,

brings chaos into the second season.

"I think chaos is a good word to describe it, especially

towards the latter episodes," he said.

"A lot of things start happening at once and there are huge

battles. There is a battle that lasts for three episodes, I

think. It is chaotic, that's a good word. Sauron is a trigger

for a lot of the chaos, I suppose, through his manipulations of

people," he said," he added.

Stars have returned to the San Diego Comic-Con after the

2023 dual writers' and actors' strikes led to a subdued

Comic-Con last year with no A-list celebrities or Hall H panels,

which are known for delivering some of the biggest industry

news.