“You’ve been gone too long, Alice,” are the ominous first words of the spectacular new trailer for Disney’s Alice Through The Looking Glass.

In the latest preview, time is of the essence and underlined from the very start with the famous Disney logo rotated to the sound of a ticking clock.

Poster for Alice Through the Looking Glass
Poster for Alice Through the Looking Glass (Disney)

“Friends cannot be neglected. Hurry!” Alan Rickman’s Blue Caterpillar orders as The Mad Hatter, played by Johnny Depp, appears on screen – and in peril.

Alice – played again by actress Mia Wasikowska – is seen opening a door and falling to earth.

As the clock continues to menacingly tick, she cries out as she plummets through the blue sky – before the clouds below her open up, revealing a landscape of green fields.

“Please sir, the Hatter is in danger!” Alice is later heard to cry.

As the action ramps up and Helena Bonham Carter makes an eye-catching appearance as The Red Queen, the time theme is once again emphasised.

Johnny Depp poses for the cameras
Johnny Depp poses for the cameras (Jonathan Brady/PA)

“When the day becomes the night, and the sky becomes the sea, when the clock strikes heavy and there’s no time for tea, and in our darkest hour, before my final rhyme, she will come back home to Wonderland and turn back the hands of time.”

The film is a sequel to Tim Burton’s 2010 version of Alice In Wonderland.

Anne Hathaway is set to return as the White Queen, while Sacha Baron Cohen and Rhys Ifans are also joining the franchise, with Sacha starring as Time and Rhys as the Mad Hatter’s father, Zanik Hightopp.

The sequel is based on Alice In Wonderland author Lewis Carroll’s novel, Through The Looking Glass And What Alice Found There.

The tagline for the new film is: “It’s time for a little madness.”

Alice Through The Looking Glass is scheduled for release on May 27, 2016.