Lord of the Rings returns to New Zealand for new Amazon TV series

Amazon is set to film its Lord of the Rings television series in New Zealand, almost two decades after Peter Jackson’s acclaimed movie trilogy was shot in the country.

The streaming service confirmed today that filming for the series, based on J.R.R. Tolkien’s fantasy saga, will begin in Auckland “in the coming months.”

Pre-production has already started on the show, which is expected to become the most expensive ever made with a predicted cost of around $1 billion.

Showrunners and executive producers J.D. Payne and Patrick McKay said that they “knew [they] needed to find somewhere majestic, with pristine coasts, forests, and mountains” in order to bring Middle-earth’s “primordial beauty” to life.

They added that New Zealand boasts “world-class sets, studios” and “craftspeople” and shared their gratitude “to the people and the government” for supporting the project.

“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,” they said.

The TV series will “explore new storylines preceding J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Fellowship of the Ring,” with the first two episodes set to be directed by J.A. Bayona.

Filming for Jackson’s trilogy took place from October 1999 to December 2000 at locations across New Zealand, including the country’s national parks and sound stages near Wellington and Queenstown

The series was nominated for a total of 30 Academy Awards and won 17, setting the record for a movie trilogy.

Jackson later returned to New Zealand to film The Hobbit trilogy. The six films earned a total of nearly $6 billion at the box office and have sparked considerable interest from Tolkien tourists visiting the locations used on screen.

Read more

Lily Collins struggled to pronounce Tolkien while filming biopic

Nicholas Hoult: I hope Tolkien would be proud of new biopic

Andy Serkis spoofs Theresa May with 'precious' Gollum Brexit sketch