House of the Dragon rivals The Rings of Power again as both fantasy series release new trailers

It's a big week for television as the Upfronts continue to bring in new show announcements and other exciting news. Amazon Prime Video has been sharing a ton of updates today, May 14, including the release of the Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power season 2 trailer and release date. But amid the big news that the fantasy series will continue on Aug. 29 with the first three episodes of season 2, social media was in a frenzy over a leaked House of the Dragon season 2 trailer.

Warner Bros. Discovery will have its day at the Upfronts tomorrow, May 15, but seemingly in response to the leak of the new House of the Dragon trailer, HBO decided to drop the sneak peek today. Even if it's unintentional, it looks like the two epic fantasy shows are rivaling again. However, this time around, the series will not air at the same time. They'll be back-to-back.

New House of the Dragon season 2 and The Rings of Power season 2 trailers

Let's take a look at the House of the Dragon season 2 trailer first, as that's the return I'm personally most excited about. The fantasy series based on the book Fire & Blood by George R.R. Martin will premiere on HBO and Max on Sunday, June 16. New episodes will air weekly. We've already gotten trailers for the new installment, but this one features new footage worth geeking out over:

The first season of House of the Dragon was really just the setup for the big war ahead, dubbed the Dance of the Dragons. Though we saw a lot of betrayals, deaths, and heartbreak in the first season, I have a feeling we haven't seen anything yet compared to what's coming!

And for the Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power season 2 trailer released today, this is the first-look footage we're getting to see. After the first season, of course, Sauron is the big bad of the new installment and he's even got a new look! The action-packed preview gives us a glimpse into what's going down next in Middle-earth, along with looks at some of our favorite characters like Galadriel, Elrond, and Arondir.

As mentioned, The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power season 2 will premiere with three episodes on Thursday, Aug. 29. That's a few weeks after the House of the Dragon season 2 finale, which is expected to air on HBO and Max on Sunday, Aug. 4.

In their first seasons, House of the Dragon and The Rings of Power aired at the same time, with the HBO mega-hit premiering on Aug. 21, 2022 and ending on Oct. 23, 2022, and the Prime Video favorite beginning on Sept. 1, 2022 and ending on Oct. 14, 2022. Their release schedule made it nearly impossible not to pit them against each other week after week, trying to determine which fantasy franchise was winning.

For me, it was kind of a struggle to get through The Rings of Power season 1, to be honest. I'm a big fan of The Lord of the Rings, though I haven't read the books and am not an expert on a lot of the deeper lore. The first season no doubt looked beautiful (you can tell they spent A LOT of money on it), but I felt that the plot moved too slowly and I was bored during many scenes. House of the Dragon completely owned my 2022, on the other hand, forcing me to go back and read Fire & Blood to prepare for the next seasons. As someone who loves Game of Thrones, I could see this spinoff being just as great — or even better — in quality.

I'll be watching both seasons when they premiere this summer, though I'm sure you can tell which one I'm more excited for!