In what should come as no surprise, it has been announced that Amazon’s ‘Lord of the Rings’ series will film in New Zealand. In fact, it has been reported that pre-production has already begun, with filming set to begin “in the coming months” in Auckland.
Showrunners and executive producers J.D. Payne and Patrick McKay announced:
“As we searched for the location in which we could bring to life the primordial beauty of the Second Age of Middle-earth, we knew we needed to find somewhere majestic, with pristine coasts, forests, and mountains, that also is a home to world-class sets, studios, and highly skilled and experienced craftspeople and other staff. And we’re happy that we are now able to officially confirm New Zealand as our home for our series based on stories from J.R.R. Tolkien’s ‘The Lord of the Rings’. We are grateful to the people and the government of New Zealand and especially Auckland for supporting us during this pre-production phase. The abundant measure of Kiwi hospitality with which they have welcomed us has already made us feel right at home, and we are looking forward to deepening our partnership in the years to come.”
Of course, Peter Jackson filmed all three ‘Lord of the Rings’ and all three ‘The Hobbit’ movies in New Zealand and some of those locations have become tourist attractions. There is already a large population of people in the area that have worked on those films, so that should also be helpful to the creators of the series. The movies have injected a huge amount of money into the economy, so it’s not surprising that they are welcoming the show’s production.
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It is known that the upcoming series will be a prequel set during the Second Age of Middle Earth. Will Poulter is one of the show’s leads. Markella Kavenagh is also part of the cast. J.A. Bayona (‘Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom’) is directing the first two episodes. Beyond that, not much else is known.
Check back for updates!
Source: iO9
