Here’s a fun one: Remember how Amazon bought the rights to J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings for $250 million and is spending another $250 million to make two seasons of a new Lord of the Rings show? Well, according to local Scottish newspaper The Daily Record, the company is already hard at work scouting locations, and they’re going incognito. This is per “an insider”:
"When Amazon people scouted locations, they didn’t make themselves known, acted as tourists and connected straight away with local communities."
So Amazon location scouts are pretending to be tourists. First, it didn’t work, and second, I blame Game of Thrones for this kind of thing. Producers behind that show kept tightening security over the years until it became impossible to find out anything about what was going on, and now every production is shrouded in secrecy.
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Anyway, these disguised scouts reportedly looked at the town of Portree on the Isle of Skye, Dunskey Castle, the small town of Callander, Balloch Country Park, and the villages of Portpatrick and Scourie. These areas are certainly photogenic enough to fit into Middle-earth:
Beyond the fact that it’ll cost a crap-ton of money, we don’t know a ton about Amazon’s series, although word is that it’ll revolve around a young Aragorn. Amazon Studios head Jennifer Salke has said that they’re hoping to have the show no the air by 2021.
Amazon isn’t putting all of its dumptrucks of money eggs in one basket. It’s also making a splashy adaptation of The Wheel of Time series by Robert Jordan and Brandon Sanderson. In fact, Sanderson recently stopped by the Wheel of Time writer’s room for a visit:
Doing pitch meeting for #DarkOne and though time is tight, I managed to swing by the The Wheel of Time television show writer's room. The Dragon Banner flies proudly here. @WoTWritersRoom @rafejudkins @dragonmount pic.twitter.com/Bkl4PyphDA
— Brandon Sanderson (@BrandSanderson) February 8, 2019
How’s that for an endorsement?
The Wheel of Time series is set to begin production this September. Amazon is coming for that TV fantasy crown. It’s coming for it.
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h/t Metro, Bleeding Cool