Amazon’s Lord of the Rings series could be filmed in New Zealand

THE HOBBIT: AN UNEXPECTED JOURNEY, Martin Freeman, 2012. ©Warner Bros. Pictures/Courtesy Everett Collection
THE HOBBIT: AN UNEXPECTED JOURNEY, Martin Freeman, 2012. ©Warner Bros. Pictures/Courtesy Everett Collection /
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According to a report from website Geeks WorldWide, Amazon could be filming its Lord of the Rings series on location in New Zealand. Director Peter Jackson filmed The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit trilogies there, so it makes sense, and since Amazon is planning on spending an astounding $500 million for the first two seasons of the show, using the familiar backdrop of New Zealand could make it easier to get passionate fans of the saga on board and really boost the ratings.

There has been no official word from Peter Jackson’s Weta Workshop on the deal, which isn’t all that strange since no one seems to know what level of involvement Jackson will have with the series. But come on Amazon, there’s an entire Hobbit village just sitting there, in New Zealand…what are you waiting for?

Recently, it was announced that Amazon had hired writers JD Payne and Patrick McKay (Star Trek: Beyond) to help pen the scripts for the show, which is to be a prequel of sorts to Lord of the Rings, focusing on a young Aragorn, if some reports are to be believed.

Geeks WorldWide also mentions somewhere between 2020-2021 a targeted premiere date for season 1 of the series, but there has been no official word from Amazon on that score. And, since there has yet to be a firm filming location nailed down, it’s highly doubtful that timeframe is anything more than wishful thinking, at this point.

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