First reports and pics from the set of Amazon’s Lord of the Rings show

Amazon officially has a cast for its tremendously expensive Lord of the Rings show, set during the Second Age of Middle-earth, back when elves still ran hither and thither and Sauron was getting into homemade jewelry. We still don’t know exactly what the show will be about, but the train has officially left the station.

And now the filming begins. We know that a good chunk of shooting will happen in New Zealand, where Peter Jackson also shot his classic film adaptation of J.R.R. Tolkien’s novels…which this show is not adapting, it’s probably helpful to point out. And fansite TheOneRing.net has reports directly from the front lines!

So information, as you can probably imagine, is sparse, but there are some nuggets to chew on. According to a source — or “Ringer,” as TheOneRing.net calls them — there are “hooded guys” on the riverbanks of Auckland:

"One of the people who lived there told me there was filming in the dark with bright lights on for 4 hours…He didn’t know what it was. Afterwards he saw hooded guys (which normally doesn’t mean good things) so he walked up and spoke to them. They were telling it was for filming ‘the new Lord of the Rings’."

Indeed, hooded guys usually spells trouble in this universe. It puts us immediately in the mind of Ringwraiths, human kings corrupted into Sauron’s service who lived to do his bidding. They are unpleasant.

And the Ringwraiths were around during the second age, so it’s possible they could show up on the series. Then again, there are plenty of reasons to wear a hood beyond being a thrall to the dark lord, so maybe we’re just talking about some randos here.

Beyond that, members of the cast and crew are starting to post about their experiences. For example, here’s pilot director and big IT fan J.A. Bayona posing in front of…a completely nondescript field, which doesn’t really give us any hint of what he could have been shooting but we appreciate the enthusiasm:

Meanwhile, cast member Sophia Nomvete hyped up the beginning of filming season about a week back:

“Calm before the storm.” Ooh.

Finally, Lord of the Rings staff writer Glenise Mullins has a simple message for fans: stop sending me audition tapes, I’m not part of the casting department.

Okay, but what if I have a reaaaaaly good tape?

We don’t know when The Lord of the Rings show will be out, but it’ll almost certainly be after The Wheel of Time, Amazon’s other big fantasy series, makes its debut. We’re about to be awash in wizards and whatnot.

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h/t TweakTown