Rings of Power really wants us to know that when it comes back next month, it’s gonna be doing a lot of the things that fans wished season one had. There’s lots of battles. There’s rings of power, of course. There’s things actually happening instead of our heroes waiting around to realize what the audience did a few episodes in. And there’s going to be a lot of creatures to delight and menace Middle-earth.
Fresh off its banger of a trailer released at Comic-Con, Amazon has now shared a new behind-the-scenes featurette looking at the sheer amount of creatures and monsters that will appear throughout season two. From the armies of Mordor sending legions of orcs (and a rather sizeable Hill-Troll) against the Elves of Eregion, to stomping ents, ghostly Barrow-Wights, and even a giant sea worm in Numenor’s waters, there’s going to be a lot more monstrous action this time around.
Arachnophobes who still watch Return of the King through their fingers beware, however: the featurette also gives us our first look at Isildur’s encounter with a skittering brood of giant spiders… and their mother, Shelob, making her Rings of Power debut. The potential for Shelob has always been on the table for the series. The descendant of the primal spirit Ungoliant—the giant spider who destroyed the twinned trees of Valinor at Melkor’s command, which we saw in some of the very first images teased for Rings of Power—Shelob is long-lived enough to be around for quite a big chunk of the Tolkien chronology being covered here. At least we now know that Rings of Power is staying traditional with its depiction of her: no gothic mommy à la Shadow of War here.
Rings of Power and its many beasties return to Prime Video on August 29. Want more io9 news? Check out when to expect the latest Marvel, Star Wars, and Star Trek releases, what’s next for the DC Universe on film and TV, and everything you need to know about the future of Doctor Who.