Lord of the Rings director finishes New Zealand filming on Amazon show

Amazon’s fabulously expensive Lord of the Rings show has been slow in coming, but it looks like filming has turned a corner.

For as much money as Amazon is spending on it, we’ve heard relatively little about the upcoming Lord of the Rings TV show, and almost nothing in the way of behind-the-scenes photos. Nevertheless, director J.A. Bayona recently bid goodbye to New Zealand, where much of the series is being filmed, on social media, complete with a picture of his filthy feet:

Those feet are worthy of Hobbiton. Beware tetanus.

“This is my last photo in New Zealand,” Bayona writes. “I have no words to thank this extraordinary land and its beautiful people for taking me in this last year and a half. My heart feels a little kiwi now and I can’t wait to be back.” That certainly sounds like the curtain has fallen on at least one leg of filming. Bayona was brought on to direct the first two episodes of the show, which Amazon already pre-approved for at least two seasons. We don’t know if he just finished his own episodes or if the entire first season has been shot — filming has been going on for a long while, but with COVID mucking up schedules round the world this past year, it’s taken longer than anticipated.

Like I said, we still don’t know many specifics about the show. We know it’s set during the Second Age of Middle-earth, but not what the plot will actually entail. The Second Age is a long age — you’ve got the glory and fall of Númenor, the forging of the Rings of Power, the Last Alliance of Elves and Men…there’s a lot of material to choose from, if the show doesn’t just make up something entirely new.

We also know that the show has a big cast, including younger versions of characters like Galadriel, who will be played by Morfydd Clark. It’s also possible that the series will up and the sex and nudity quotient, something J.R.R. Tolkien never had much of in his books. Time will tell how that goes over.

Release date in 2022? Maybe?

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h/t Gamespot