TV Trailers of the Week: Lanterns, Blade Runner 2099, The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power: Season 3 and More
📺 Take a peek at some of the latest trailers for upcoming TV shows.
📺 “Lanterns” Comic Con Trailer: Kyle Chandler and Aaron Pierre Bring the Veteran-Rookie Cop Formula to DC’s Alien-Tinged Neo-Western Mystery Series — Premiering Sunday, August 16th on HBO and HBO Max
Every great cop story... or, in this case, a “space cop” story, starts with a veteran, a rookie, and a partnership neither one of them asked for. Lanterns sends that formula into space and down again, pairing two Green Lanterns who look less like future best friends and more like detectives struggling to survive their first week together.
Kyle Chandler, of Friday Night Lights fame, plays Hal Jordan, a hardened veteran who carries himself like Tommy Lee Jones in Men in Black: craggy, experienced, and increasingly tired of explaining how everything works. He understands the ring, the job, and the dangers surrounding both, but years of Lantern duty appear to have left him deeply disgruntled, which sets up his new partner perfectly: John Stewart, played here by Rebel Ridge breakout Aaron Pierre.
John is the ambitious recruit waiting to claim the ring and prove he belongs. He’s confident, determined, and ready to embrace his heroic destiny, despite what Hal thinks of him. There’s only one problem, though: John hasn’t quite figured out how to fly... or at least not yet, from what this new full trailer has led us to believe.
When John is asked to summon the ring’s power and fly, he comes up painfully short. Hal responds with more sarcasm than sympathy. But here’s the interesting thing: this DC series, which arrives with plenty of expectations attached, appears to take a tonal detour from typical superhero fare.
Rather than launching directly into cosmic warfare, this eight-episode HBO drama brings its intergalactic officers down to Earth. A shooting in rural Nebraska pulls Hal and John into a small-town murder investigation that may carry unmistakably alien fingerprints. And those fingerprints could point toward something far more dangerous than an ordinary human killer.
“What do you know about Manhunters?” John asks Hal in this new Lanterns trailer, suggesting their investigation may involve a suspect capable of changing shape.
Hal’s expression immediately hardens. “Where did you hear that word?”
Created by Chris Mundy, Damon Lindelof, and Tom King, Lanterns looks closer to a neo-Western detective thriller than a conventional superhero adventure. The rings may be capable of creating anything their wearers imagine, but solving a murder and learning to trust the person beside you could prove considerably harder when a shapeshifter is on the loose... and could very well be anyone.
Also starring Kelly Macdonald as the local sheriff, who doesn’t take too kindly to outsiders poking their noses into her town’s business, the cast also includes Garret Dillahunt, Paul Ben-Victor, Jason Ritter, and Poorna Jagannathan, along with surprise turns from Laura Linney, Ulrich Thomsen as Thaal Sinestro, and Nathan Fillion returning as Guy Gardner.
Lanterns premieres Sunday, August 16th, on HBO and HBO Max.
📺 “Blade Runner 2099” Comic Con Teaser Trailer: Hunter Schafer and Michelle Yeoh Enter a Future Where Replicants Rule and Humanity Is on the Run in Upcoming ‘Blade Runner’ Sequel Miniseries — Premiering Wednesday, November 25th on Prime Video
Wait a minute. Hold up. Stark silhouettes of futuristic Los Angeles. Smog hanging over brutalist-style towers. Giant digital billboards flickering through the haze.
That can only mean one thing: Blade Runner. Only this time, the year is 2099.
There’s something amusing about how far the franchise has traveled. Ridley Scott’s original took place in 2019, which was then 37 years into the future. Denis Villeneuve’s sequel jumped ahead to 2049. Now, this eight-episode Prime Video series moves another half-century forward.
And yet, judging by this first look coming straight from San Diego Comic-Con, the Blade Runner world still carries the same visual scars. The smoky streets, neon glow, monolithic architecture, and advertisements cascading from above all remain firmly intact. The world looks familiar, but the power structure has changed.
Following a Replicant uprising, humanity no longer appears to sit at the center of society. Hunter Schafer, coming off her turn in the HBO series Euphoria, stars as Cora, a human fugitive who has survived by repeatedly changing identities over the years, with the city’s darkest corners becoming her refuge. Hoping to secure a future for herself and her brother, she makes one final transformation and becomes a Blade Runner.
Blade Runners were once special police detectives tasked with hunting rogue Replicants. But in the year 2099, a Blade Runner’s job is something much different: instead of hunting Replicants, they now hunt rogue human runaways.
That new role forces Cora into an uneasy partnership with Olwen, played by Oscar winner Michelle Yeoh, a veteran Replicant with only days left to live. Together, they are assigned to hunt a runaway carrying information powerful enough to collapse the city’s fragile new order, possibly revealing that whoever controls the power also controls the truth.
Created by Silka Luisa (Shining Girls), with Shōgun helmer Jonathan van Tulleken directing the first two episodes, Blade Runner 2099 appears ready to preserve the franchise’s visual identity while shifting its perspective toward the Replicants now holding power.
The future may belong to them, but the old questions remain: Who gets to decide what counts as human, and what happens when the hunted finally take control?
Executive produced by Ridley Scott, all eight episodes of Blade Runner 2099 are due to premiere Wednesday, November 25th, on Prime Video.
📺 “The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power: Season 3” Comic Con Teaser Trailer: Sauron Forges the One Ring as Middle-earth Descends Into War in Amazon’s Epic Fantasy Series — Premiering Wednesday, November 11th on Prime Video
You can’t have Comic-Con without something from Middle-earth, especially with Amazon coming to San Diego to showcase the third season of The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power, set to debut this November.
So, check out the first teaser for the upcoming third season of The Rings of Power, fresh from Hall H. And judging by the footage, the time for uneasy peace and political maneuvering has officially ended.
Five years have passed since the fall of Eregion, and Middle-earth is now deep in the War of the Elves and Sauron. The Dark Lord’s armies have swept across the land, leaving Khazad-dûm, Lindon, and Rivendell among the few remaining strongholds capable of resisting him.
But Sauron isn’t settling for military victory. From his newly completed tower of Barad-dûr, he begins forging the One Ring, hoping to seize control of every remaining free people. That threat forces Elves, Dwarves, Men, and Wizards into alliances built less on trust than on the simple need to survive.
Charlie Vickers returns as Sauron alongside Morfydd Clark as Galadriel, Robert Aramayo as Elrond, Daniel Weyman as Gandalf, and Benjamin Walker as Gil-galad.
Season 3 is also set to introduce Jamie Campbell Bower as Celeborn, Zubin Varla as Khamûl, Eddie Marsan as Thrain, and Simon Pegg as the voice of the Balrog, who apparently has something to say after all these years.
Created by J.D. Payne and Patrick McKay, the new season appears ready to move beyond the forging of the Rings and into the full-scale war that will shape Middle-earth for generations. And fingers crossed, The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power will finally deliver the sweeping fantasy conflict it has been building toward.
The first four episodes of Season 3 are slated to premiere Wednesday, November 11th, on Prime Video, followed by two episodes on November 18th and the final two on November 25th. Remember, it takes One Ring to rule them all... but only one Amazon Prime subscription to stream them all.
📺 “Anne Rice’s Queen of the Damned” Comic-Con Teaser: Akasha Takes the Throne in AMC’s Gothic Horror Drama Series — Coming Soon to AMC and AMC+
And just like that, Anne Rice’s Immortal Universe is preparing another transformation. After reinventing Interview With the Vampire around The Vampire Lestat, AMC’s gothic horror drama turns to The Queen of the Damned, with Sheila Atim (of The Underground Railroad and The Woman King fame) stepping forward as Akasha. The ancient mother of all vampires has awakened with a vision for remaking the world, forcing the series’ familiar immortals to confront a ruler who sees domination as salvation. Season 4 will be led by new showrunner Hannah Moscovitch alongside executive producer Mark Johnson, and from the look of things, this queen isn’t looking to rule quietly.
📺 “Percy Jackson and the Olympians: Season 3” Comic-Con Teaser: The Titan’s Curse Sends Percy Into a Darker Quest in Disney+’s Fantasy Adventure Series Based on Rick Riordan’s Bestselling Novels — Premiering Friday, November 20th on Disney+
The next quest is already closing in. Walker Scobell returns as Percy Jackson alongside Leah Sava Jeffries’ Annabeth and Aryan Simhadri’s Grover as Season 3 adapts Rick Riordan’s The Titan’s Curse, pushing the young demigods toward a missing ally, a dangerous prophecy, and the larger war gathering around Camp Half-Blood. This fantasy adventure continues Percy’s search for where he belongs while destiny keeps making the answer more complicated.
📺 “Avatar: Seven Havens” Comic Con Teaser: A Young Earthbender Inherits the Avatar’s Power in Paramount’s New Animated Fantasy Adventure Series — Premiering Friday, October 9th on Paramount+
Being the Avatar once meant bringing hope. In a world broken by catastrophe, it now makes a young Earthbender the most feared person alive. Branded as humanity’s destroyer and hunted by enemies from both the human and spirit worlds, she joins her long-lost twin to uncover their shared past and protect civilization’s seven remaining havens. Created by Michael Dante DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko, this animated fantasy adventure begins a new Avatar era where restoring balance may first require surviving everyone determined to stop it.
📺 “Mobile Suit Gundam RG XARX-ZERO” Comic Con Teaser: Humanity’s Greatest Discovery Creates a New War in Kenji Kamiyama’s Upcoming Mecha Anime Series — Coming in 2027
A technological miracle becomes the seed of humanity’s next disaster. When an object from another galaxy gives civilization the power to control gravity, communicate faster than light, and materialize thought, the solar system enters a new age of expansion. Less than a decade later, that same object begins producing a hostile ecosystem capable of replicating itself. Directed by Kenji Kamiyama, this science-fiction anime begins a new Gundam continuity set roughly a century before the action game Gundam Rogue Orbit, laying the groundwork for a conflict designed to unfold across generations.
📺 “House of the Dragon: Season 3” Mid-Season Trailer: The Targaryens Set Westeros Ablaze in a War No Dragon Can Control — New Episodes Weekly on Sundays, HBO Max
The throne is still standing. The family fighting over it may not be. Emma D’Arcy, Matt Smith, Olivia Cooke, Tom Glynn-Carney, and Ewan Mitchell return as the Dance of the Dragons spreads across Westeros, turning rival claims into advancing armies, shattered alliances, and fire raining from the sky. With Rhaenyra and Aegon’s courts driving the realm deeper into open war, every victory strips another piece from the dynasty they are trying to save. The dragons may decide who rules... but the bloodshed will decide what remains.
📺 “Tires: Season 3” Trailer: Shane Gillis and Steve Gerben Take Ownership of More Bad Decisions in Netflix’s Workplace Comedy Series — Streaming Thursday, August 13th on Netflix
Valley Forge Auto has new owners. Unfortunately, they’re still Will and Shane. Steve Gerben’s Will starts questioning the life he never pursued, while Shane Gillis’ Shane finds adulthood taking an unwanted turn into his lane. Created by Gillis, Gerben, and director John McKeever, this workplace comedy keeps business growth, personal responsibility, and basic professionalism trapped inside a tire shop where every attempt at progress is only one terrible idea away from total collapse.
📺 “The Shards” New Teaser: Obsession, Privilege, and Murder Haunt 1980s Los Angeles in This New FX Series from Ryan Murphy and Bret Easton Ellis — Premiering Wednesday, August 5th on FX and Hulu
Privilege can buy almost anything... except protection from obsession. In 1981 Los Angeles, an aspiring teenage writer becomes convinced that his prep school’s magnetic new student is connected to a killer stalking the city. Igby Rigney, Homer Gere, Kaia Gerber, Hayes Warner, and Graham Campbell star in Ryan Murphy and Bret Easton Ellis’ psychological teen thriller series, where jealousy, desire, and paranoia begin tearing through an insulated world of wealth. Based on Ellis’ semi-autobiographical novel, sometimes the most privileged communities hide the darkest secrets.
📺 “LEGO One Piece” Official Teaser: Usopp Spins the Straw Hats’ Wildest Adventures Into a Brick-Built Pirate Legend in This Two-Part LEGO Special — Premiering Tuesday, September 29th on Netflix
Usopp telling the truth? Now that would be the real fantasy. Jacob Romero’s long-nosed Straw Hat takes command of this two-part animated LEGO special, rebuilding the crew’s early adventures with more bricks, bigger laughs, and a proudly unreliable grip on the facts. Iñaki Godoy, Mackenyu, Emily Rudd, and Taz Skylar return in voice form as Luffy, Zoro, Nami, and Sanji, with Tom Hyndman steering the special as showrunner, writer, and executive producer. The Grand Line was already dangerous enough before Usopp got to edit the legend.
📺 “My Brilliant Career” Trailer: A Young Woman Defies Marriage, Manners, and 1900 Australia in Netflix’s New Spirited Aussie Period Drama Mini-Series Starring Philippa Northeast — Premiering Thursday, August 13th on Netflix
Sybylla wants a career... not a cage. Aussie actress Philippa Northeast (of Home and Away) stars as a sharp, restless aspiring writer in 1900 Australia, where family expectations keep pushing her toward marriage while her own ambition keeps pulling her toward independence. Christopher Chung’s Harry complicates the plan with romance, while Anna Chancellor, Genevieve O’Reilly, and Kate Mulvany help fill out a world determined to tell Sybylla what kind of woman she should become. Developed by executive producer Liz Doran from Miles Franklin’s landmark novel, this six-part drama lets its heroine chase the only ending that matters: the one she writes herself.
📺 “Apollo Has Fallen” Trailer: A Hijacking Unleashes a Viral Conspiracy Across Europe — Coming Soon on Hulu US, and Prime Video UK
Europe is about to catch something deadly. Ritu Arya and Tewfik Jallab star as MI6 agent Zara Taylor and former protection officer Vincent Taleb, whose investigation into a hijacking exposes a cross-border conspiracy built around a devastating virus. With mercenary leader Yuri Mishkin (played by Jacek Koman) pulling the strings and trust collapsing on every side, the partners must outrun betrayal, old trauma, and a biological threat designed to turn an entire continent into collateral damage. The hijacking may only be the distraction. The real attack is already spreading.
📺 “Camp Rock 3” Trailer: Connect 3 Returns to Find the Next Act Ready to Steal the Spotlight in Disney Channel’s New Jonas Brothers Musical Sequel — Premiering Thursday, August 13th on Disney Channel and Friday, August 14th on Disney+
The campfire is lit, the microphones are live, and everyone wants the opening slot. Joe, Nick, and Kevin Jonas return as Connect 3, heading back to Camp Rock after losing their tour’s opening act and launching a competition among a new generation of performers. As Sage, Fletch, Desi, Rosie, and their fellow campers chase the spotlight, rivalries spark, friendships bend, and romance finds its way into the setlist. Winning may open the tour, but finding your own sound is the real encore.
📺 “The Undeclared War: Season 2” Trailer: The UK Government Hunts a Mole as Britain’s Cyberwar Turns Inward in This British Thriller Series Starring Hannah Khalique-Brown and Simon Pegg — Premiering Thursday, August 27th on Peacock
The most dangerous breach is already inside the room. After surviving a devastating Russian cyberattack, the UK Government Communications Headquarters’ (GCHQ) Malware Department discovers that someone within its own ranks may be feeding an even larger operation. Hannah Khalique-Brown, Simon Pegg, Siân Brooke, Alex Jennings, and Danny Sapani return as suspicion spreads, loyalties fracture, and Britain’s invisible war moves closer to home. The code may expose the attack. But trusting the wrong person could bring the whole system down.
📺 “Women in Blue: Season 2” Trailer: Mexico’s First Female Police Force Reopens the Wounds of 1968 in This Spanish-Language Crime Series — Premiering Wednesday, August 12th on Apple TV
Some cases won’t stay buried. They wait for someone brave enough to dig. After the murder of a student activist, newly promoted police officer María and her fellow “Azules” uncover a conspiracy tied to Mexico’s 1968 student massacre. Bárbara Mori, Natalia Téllez, Amorita Rasgado, and Ximena Sariñana return as corruption closes ranks and a second victim suggests someone is settling old scores. When you need order, send the police. But when you need the truth, send the Azules.
📺 “The Prisoner: The Complete Series” Trailer: Patrick McGoohan’s Number Six Refuses to Surrender His Identity in This Cult 1960s British Spy Thriller Series — Streaming Now on the Criterion Channel
You can imprison the man. Breaking him is another matter. Patrick McGoohan stars in this landmark 1960s British sci-fi spy series as Number Six, an abducted agent held inside the Village and subjected to an escalating campaign of surveillance, manipulation, and mind games. Considered a precursor to mind-bending mystery shows like Twin Peaks and Lost, this cult classic pits one stubborn individual against a system built to erase individuality. He may be numbered, but he will not be owned.
📺 “Whitmer Thomas: Terminal Crew of Dudes” Trailer: Whitmer Thomas Turns Friendship, Memory, and Original Punk Rock Music Into a Deeply Personal HBO Stand-Up Comedy Special — Premiering Friday, August 14th on HBO and HBO Max
Some friendships become memories. Others become material. Alternative comedian Whitmer Thomas returns to HBO with a deeply personal stand-up comedy special that blends jokes, original songs, photographs, and home videos into a funny, affectionate look at the friends, family, and fellow weirdos who shaped him. What begins as a comedy set gradually becomes something warmer and messier: a tribute to the friends who made him who he is.
📺 “Disney Worldbuilders” Teaser: Filmmaker Leslie Iwerks Celebrates the Artists Behind Disney’s Most Immersive Worlds in This New Documentary Special — Streaming This August on Disney+
Every magical world begins with someone staring at a blank page. Then an army of artists turns imagination into somewhere audiences can actually visit. Director Leslie Iwerks goes behind Disney’s familiar stories, characters, and creative traditions to spotlight the craftspeople who design, shape, and build every detail. The magic may feel effortless, but worldbuilding is where the real work begins.
📺 “Hard Knocks: Training Camp with the Seattle Seahawks” Trailer: The Super Bowl Champions Discover That Defending the Crown Starts in the Heat — Premiering Tuesday, August 4th on HBO and HBO Max
The confetti is gone. Now the real title defense begins. NFL Films and HBO’s on-going docuseries follows head coach Mike Macdonald, Sam Darnold, Jaxon Smith-Njigba, Devon Witherspoon, Byron Murphy II, and the reigning Super Bowl champions through a training camp where every drill, roster decision, and mistake carries championship weight. Veterans fight to stay sharp, hopefuls fight to stay employed, and an entire locker room learns that repeating is harder than arriving.
📺 “Special Ops True” Trailer: New Docuseries Chronicles and Reconstructs Some of the U.S. Military’s Highest-Stakes Missions Through Firsthand Testimony — Premiering Tuesday, August 4th on Paramount+
History looks different from inside the mission. This Paramount+ original docuseries revisits major special-operations missions through firsthand accounts and previously unseen footage, putting the fear, pressure, and split-second choices back into stories often remembered only by their headlines. Told from the perspective of the people who lived them, the series trades distant battlefield myth for ground-level memory, including the U.S. operation that killed Osama bin Laden.
📺 “The Chosen in the Wild With Bear Grylls” Trailer: British Adventurer Bear Grylls Takes the Cast of ‘The Chosen’ From Biblical Drama to Wilderness Survival — All Six Episodes Premiere Sunday, August 9th on Prime Video
Faith is about to get a lot more rugged. Bear Grylls leads The Chosen cast members Jonathan Roumie, Paras Patel, Elizabeth Tabish, Noah James, and Luke Dimyan, along with series creator Dallas Jenkins, through rivers, deserts, forests, and canyons as wilderness challenges open the door to candid conversations about fear, endurance, and belief. Across six episodes, the group trades scripts and sets for skydives, climbs, scorpions, and whatever else the wilderness throws their way. This time, the leap of faith is literal.
📺 “MLB at Field of Dreams” Trailer: The Phillies and Twins Bring Baseball Back to the Iowa Cornfields in Netflix’s Live Sports Special — Streaming on Netflix Live Thursday, August 13th
Some ballparks hold history. This one was built from a movie dream. The Philadelphia Phillies face the Minnesota Twins as Major League Baseball returns to Dyersville, Iowa, for a live game surrounded by cornfields and memories of the 1989 classic. With Bryce Harper, Kyle Schwarber, and Byron Buxton taking the field... and Kevin Costner narrating this trailer, this Netflix sports special turns a regular-season matchup into a night where Hollywood nostalgia meets baseball history.
