Amazon’s Lord of the Rings TV series will move production to the U.K. for season 2

Peter Jackson proved that New Zealand was the perfect home for Middle-Earth, and Amazon Studios clearly thought so as well. The streaming service invested quite a lot of cash in filming the first season of their Lord of the Rings TV series in New Zealand, but they announced today that they’ll be moving production to the United Kingdom for season 2.

“We want to thank the people and the government of New Zealand for their hospitality and dedication and for providing The Lord of the Rings series with an incredible place to begin this epic journey,” said Vernon Sanders, VP and Co-Head of TV, Amazon Studios. “We are grateful to the New Zealand Film Commission, the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment, Tourism New Zealand, Auckland Unlimited, and others for their tremendous collaboration that supported the New Zealand film sector and the local economy during the production of Season One.” The first season of Amazon’s Lord of the Rings TV series cost an estimated $465 million, and it’s that cost that factored heavily into their choice to move to the U.K. As the company has already been investing in studio space in the U.K. and has many other shows shooting there, it does make sense for the Lord of the Rings TV series to join them. Another factor contributing to the move can be blamed on the pandemic. New Zealand has a very strict lockdown policy which hasn’t made it easy for the cast and crew to leave the country. Post-production on the first season of the Lord of the Rings TV series will continue in New Zealand until June 2022, and pre-production on season 2 will begin concurrently in the U.K. after the first of the year.

The official description for Amazon’s Lord of the Rings TV series:

The Lord of the Rings brings to screens for the very first time the heroic legends of the fabled Second Age of Middle-earth’s history. This epic drama is set thousands of years before the events of J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings, and will take viewers back to an era in which great powers were forged, kingdoms rose to glory and fell to ruin, unlikely heroes were tested, hope hung by the finest of threads, and the greatest villain that ever flowed from Tolkien’s pen threatened to cover all the world in darkness. Beginning in a time of relative peace, the series follows an ensemble cast of characters, both familiar and new, as they confront the long-feared re-emergence of evil to Middle-earth. From the darkest depths of the Misty Mountains, to the majestic forests of the elf-capital of Lindon, to the breathtaking island kingdom of Númenor, to the furthest reaches of the map, these kingdoms and characters will carve out legacies that live on long after they are gone.

The Lord of the Rings TV series will premiere on Amazon Prime Video on September 2, 2022.