‘The Lord Of The Rings’ TV series to move production from New Zealand to UK

The second season of ‘The Lord of the Rings’ will no longer shoot in New Zealand.

Amazon Studios’ big-budget TV series on the film trilogy will now be filmed in the UK. The pre-production on season 2 will begin in the UK after January 1, 2022.

The first season of The Lord of the Rings TV series will, meanwhile, continue post production through June 2022.

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Given the scale of the TV series, the elaborate sets will be shipped to the UK. Amazon Studios is currently in the process of booking stages to house the sets.

The Lord of the Rings film trilogy was shot in New Zealand too.

“As we look to relocate the production to the UK, we do not intend to actively pursue the Season One MoU five percent financial uplift with the New Zealand government or preserve the terms around that agreement, however we respectfully defer to our partners and will remain in close consultation with them around next steps,” said Albert Cheng, COO & Co-Head of TV, Amazon Studios.

Developed by J.D. Payne and Patrick McKay, The Lord of the Rings series is described as an “epic drama” set in the Second Age of Middle-earth — thousands of years before the events of the Lord of the Rings films and the novels by Tolkien. The series brings to screens for the very first time J.R.R. Tolkien’s fabled Second Age of Middle-earth’s history. Beginning in a time of relative peace, the series follows an ensemble cast of characters, both familiar and new, as they confront the long-feared re-emergence of evil to Middle-earth.

The cast of the TV show include Cynthia Addai-Robinson, Robert Aramayo, Owain Arthur, Maxim Baldry, Nazanin Boniadi, Morfydd Clark, Ismael Cruz Córdova, Charles Edwards, Trystan Gravelle, Sir Lenny Henry, Ema Horvath, Markella Kavenagh, Joseph Mawle, Tyroe Muhafidin, Sophia Nomvete, Lloyd Owen, Megan Richards, Dylan Smith, Charlie Vickers, Leon Wadham, Benjamin Walker, Daniel Weyman, and Sara Zwangobani.

Payne and McKay serve as showrunners and executive produce with Lindsey Weber, Callum Greene, J.A. Bayona, Belén Atienza, Justin Doble, Jason Cahill, Gennifer Hutchison, Bruce Richmond, and Sharon Tal Yguado. Wayne Che Yip is co-executive producer and directs along with J.A. Bayona and Charlotte Brändström. Christopher Newman is a producer and Ron Ames is a co-producer.