Amazon heading to New Zealand to film its Lord of the Rings series

Anyone looking to immerse themselves in the world of Middle-earth knows that visiting New Zealand is the best way to do it. After all, Peter Jackson shot extensively there while filming both his Lord of the Rings and Hobbit trilogies both using its landscape as their backdrops.

And it looks like Amazon will be following in Jackson’s footsteps by using New Zealand as a setting for its upcoming Lord of the Rings prequel series. This report comes from The New Zealand Herald, which claims that a “huge” portion of the new show will filmed there. Auckland and Queenstown were mentioned as possible spots to shoot the show.

Production companies Kumeu Film Studios (KFS) and Auckland Film Studios (AFS) have been involved in pre-production work on the show for the past year, according to a senior executive in the Auckland film industry. With a sky-high budget and big plans for the prequel, it makes sense they’d be spending so much time on preparation before diving into production.

Of course, a series this big will film in places outside of New Zealand, as well. Previous reports had parts of it filming in Edinburgh, Scotland, in the same studio space that housed the Avengers a while back. There were even rumors that Edinburgh would serve as the series’ homebase, but Amazon has yet to release official details about its plans.

With filming scheduled to begin during the latter half of this year, however, fans should be getting more information about the show — and where it’s happening — fairly soon. For now, we know that it will take place during the Second Age of Middle-earth, at least if Amazon’s “Lord of the Rings” Twitter account is to be trusted. Recently, it tweeted out numerous maps of Middle-earth, and fans were soon furiously theorizing over their meaning. The last of the maps confirmed the time period of the series, though the Second Age spans a few thousand years.

Although there’s no official synopsis as of yet, Lord of the Rings fans have wondered if the island of Númenor — a prominent location during the Second Age — could play a role in the show’s story. Sauron spent some time there corrupting the island and its people while held captive. Focusing on Númenor would certainly be a good way to weave the events of the TV show into the events of the previous films, and what better way to remind us of the movies than returning to New Zealand?

To stay up to date on everything fantasy, science fiction, and WiC, follow our all-encompassing Facebook page and sign up for our exclusive newsletter.

Watch Game of Thrones for FREE with a no-risk, 7-day free trial of Amazon Channels