SDCC teaser gives us our first good look at Blade Runner 2099 - Ars Technica

It’s been nearly five years since Ridley Scott first announced his plans for a TV spinoff of his sci-fi masterpiece Blade Runner (1982) and the 2017 sequel Blade Runner 2049. It’s finally here—or almost, anyway. Prime Video debuted the first teaser for the new ten-episode series, Blade Runner 2099, at San Diego Comic-Con on Friday. We also got a teaser for the third season of Prime Video’s Rings of Power and a new trailer for HBO’s Lanterns.

Yeoh and Schafer joined show runner Silka Luisa ( Shining Girls ) onstage for the big reveal, which also included an exclusive clip shown to the audience. Luisa told Entertainment Weekly that the series stays true to the original’s “noir principles… and there’s a mystery at the heart of the show that looks both forwards and backwards in terms of mythology.” An uprising has occurred and the humans lost, which means they are now the hunted second-class citizens. “The show is really imagining what comes after us, and what does it mean to be human in a world where humanity is no longer relevant,” said Luisa.

Per the official synopsis:

Fifty years after the events of Blade Runner 2049, Los Angeles has been reborn, just not by humanity. Cora, a fugitive in a final bid to stop running, takes on one last identity: a Blade Runner. Forced to partner with Olwen, a Replicant days from dying, she hunts down a runaway hiding a truth that could collapse their fragile city.

The incomparable Michelle Yeoh stars as Olwen, the dying Replicant, along with Hunter Schafer ( Euphoria ) as Cora. The cast also includes Hugo Hamlet as Buster Friendly, as well as Dmitri Abold, Lewis Gribben, Katelyn Rose Downey, Daniel Rigby, Johnny Harris, Amy Lennox, Sheila Atim, Matthew Needham, Tom Burke, and Maurizio Lombardi—all in as-yet-undisclosed roles.

Blade Runner 2099 will premiere on November 25, 2026, on Prime Video.

Prime Video made a major investment in The Rings of Power when it acquired the rights to the source material from the Tolkien estate, even committing to multiple seasons upfront. We’re now coming up on S3 and based on the teaser the streaming platform unveiled at SDCC, we’ll finally get to see Sauron (Charlie Vickers) forging the One Ring.

In season three, Middle-earth is at war. Five years have passed since the fall of Eregion. Sauron’s armies have marched across the whole of the world, conquering all in their path. Only a few isolated pockets stand between the Dark Lord and total victory—Khazad-dǔm, where the Dwarves are now sealed deep within their mountain halls, and the elven realms of Lindon and Rivendell, which are protected by their Three Rings.”

But deep in the land of Mordor, in his newly completed tower of Barad-dûr, the Dark Lord toils day and night, obsessed with harnessing a power that will bring the last of his enemies to their knees: One ring to rule them all… Now, all the free peoples of Middle-earth—Dwarves, Elves, Men, and Wizards alike—must find a way to come together, in a race against time to prevent Sauron from achieving his goal of utter domination of all life

We’re also getting some new characters this season, most notably Jamie Campbell Bower as Galadriel’s (Morfydd Clark) long-lost husband Celeborn. Zubin Varla will play Khamul the Easterling of Rhun; Eddie Marson will play Thrain, order brother to King Durin IV (Owain Arthur); Andrew Richardson will play Anarion, younger son of Elendil (Lloyd Owen) and brother to Isildur (Maxim Baldry); and Adam Young will play an Orc named Marnukh who “might not be what he seems.” Oh, and none other than Simon Pegg will voice the fiery Balrog.

The third season of Rings of Power premieres on November 11, 2026, on Prime Video.

We’ve seen a couple of teasers thus far for Lanterns, the new DC Universe series coming to HBO Max, both of which made it clear we’re in for a show that’s closer to a sci-fi True Detective than your standard superhero fare. HBO unveiled a full trailer at SDCC that is a little less Earthbound. It leans into the “space cop” vibe, reveals that shapeshifting Manhunters will be central to the plot, takes us into outer space, and also gives us our first look at Sinestro (Ulrich Thomsen), a former Corps member gone rogue. HBO threw in seven preview clips for good measure, although these have not been released publicly.