Popverse's top stories of the day

• Marvel has an unpublished Star-Lord story by Star Wars' Thrawn creator Timothy Zahn. The author isn’t sure it will ever be released.
• Rings of Power just reached one of Lord of the Rings' most consequential battles... with huge diferences from how J.R.R. Tolkien wrote it
• The Grinch returns! Dr. Seuss's holiday hater turns vacation villain in new kids graphic novel

The second trailer for The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power season 2 is here, and it looks like Charlie Vickers's Sauron is the star of the show now. Check it out to see what we mean:

Recently, Popverse got to attend the Rings of Power panel at San Diego Comic Con 2024, and just like the trailer above, the panel had everything to say about J.R.R. Tolkien's titular Lord of the Rings. 

"Sauron has arrived," said (boasted?) actor Vickers about the second season's dealings with his character. "This season, we're kind of with Sauron on his journey." Vickers explained that that journey would partially be "inside his mind."

Also at the panel were showrunners Patrick McKay and J.D. Payne, who touched on Sauron's impact on the rest of the cast and his plot to turn the heroes against each other.

"It's a psychological drama," they said, "it's filled with gaslighting as he manipulates people into forging seven rings for one person, nine rings for others. [...] Season 2 is about entering the nuclear age, and everyone wants a bomb. Everyone wants the codes. But they don't realize that it all feeds into [Sauron]."

The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power season 2 debuts August 29 on Amazon Prime Video. Stream the first season now.

Whether you're Shirefolk, Elven, Dwarven, or something else, there's a good reason to love Lord of the Rings. We do! With that in mind, we have a dragon's horde of goodies for you from a Lord of the Rings reading guide, a Lord of the Rings watch guide, details on the upcoming animated film Lord of the Rings: The War of Rohirrim, a full the Lord of the Rings reunion panel you can watch, how the OG Hobbit actors stay in touch every day on a groupchat, and the true message of the Lord of the Rings film trilogy, according to Gimli himself - John Rhys-Davies.