Official trailer here.

I... quite honestly don't know what to make of this. We're doing Annatar now, I guess? Seems a bit late unless, as Phobos thinks, it's going to be part of a "looking back and putting together the pieces" sort of thing. It could work, but I'm skeptical. Still wouldn't absolve them of making Galadriel miss it.

Maybe we're getting the appearance of the Watcher in the Water, if it's that big black pile of leeches?

It really sounds like we're getting the Balrog, which... we shouldn't? I mean, maybe Durin is talking about the Watcher when he says an ancient and powerful evil has returned, but idk. They showed us the Balrog at the end of last season. (We're supposed to think he's talking about Sauron, but I don't believe that at all.)

We notably don't see any of the Harfoots in this trailer. I personally wouldn't miss them, but it would surprise me if they were dropped altogether. At least there's still got to be the two being probably-Gandalf's travel buddies, right?

I hope they do something with the other Istari in the East. Theoretically they got there first.

I also hope we get quite a bit more of Númenor than the trailer implies. That's where the most story has room to happen, IMO. And, well, referring back to Annatar, maybe that's where we'll see him spend most of his time, corrupting the rulers?

I dunno. As with the trailers for season one, this doesn't tell us much at all about the story they're planning to tell. There's a lot of stuff that just confuses me, like what the heck is that big sea monster? Maybe it's one of several shots that could be visions rather than actual events, like the tree tendrils and the suddenly appearing tower?

Admittedly, my Tolkien lore is rusty, so I might have missed things. I'll have to brush up before August!

~Neshomeh