Popverse's top stories

• What to Watch September 2025: Wednesday season 2 wraps up on Netflix, Gen V returns to Prime Video, Only Murders in the Building is sluething about Hulu again, and so much more
• Simon Kinberg on writing X-Men movies, producing Glenn Powell's The Running Man remake, and co-creating Star Wars Rebels [Popversations]
• DC Studios president James Gunn originally wanted an actor other than John Cena for Peacemaker (but Cena won him over so much, he changed the character’s fate)

Prime Video will begin streaming The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power season 2 on Thursday, August 29. In just under a week the mysterious swirl of new and old canon of Middle-Earth will provide viewers opportunities to engage in participatory culture (creating fan art, commenting on articles, attending conventions), some of which may make it to the screen in future seasons. Popverse's resident Tolkien canon expert, Ashley Victoria Robinson, and Staff Writer, Grant DeArmitt, are here to explore the origins and future of one of the show's keystones: the Galadriel/Sauron relationship.

Check out the above video as Ashley and Grant offer up their thoughts on this version of both Galadriel and Sauron (or is that Halbrand? or is that Annatar?), why fans have jumped into their ship (Galadriel and Halbrand met on a ship ... coincidence!?), with such vigor, and what (if any!), payoff there is destined to be in The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power season 2?

Plus, Grant brings up the utility of Tolkien's canon intentions versus that of the show, and blows everyone's minds wide open!

The current on-screen Lord of the Rings adaptation The Rings of Power stars Morfydd Clark (Galadriel), Lenny Henry (Saddoc Burrows), Robert Aramayo (Elrond), Ismael Cruz Cordova (Arondir), Benjamin Walker (High King Gil-galad), and more. The first season is available to stream now, with the second season debuting August 29th.

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:

• Lord of the Rings reading guide 
• Lord of the Rings watch guide
• The Lord of the Rings reunion panel you can watch 
• The OG Hobbit actors stay in touch every day on a groupchat 
• The true message of the Lord of the Rings film trilogy, according to Gimli himself - John Rhys-Davies.