Lord of the Rings - [Amazon] *Spoilers*

pixelburp

The power of the IP I'd say: could see a different, maybe lesser franchise doing what you suggest and adding as many cliffhangers and eyebrow wiggles as possible.

Loafing Oaf

Apparently Lenny Henry is playing a Harfoot

Some Halflings are dark skin precursors to Shire-hobbits quite possibly “one of three somewhat different breeds” maybe Harfoots; [described by Tolkien in the Prologue to LOTR ‘Concerning Hobbits’ pg. 12: “they were browner of skin,” and also “they moved westward early,” 

https://www.theonering.net/torwp/2021/07/20/110907-spy-report-incredible-details-from-amazons-lord-of-the-rings-characters-sexless-nudity-halflings/

Not sure it what Professor T had in mind but should be interesting...

Conall Cernach

https://boards.ie/discussion/comment/117647350#Comment_117647350

I think we can be fairly sure that when he says the Harfoots had browner skin he did not mean that they were black.

Agent Coulson

Season 1 wrapped filming today and Amazon announced the series will debut on Friday 2nd of September 2022 with episodes released weekly.

First look picture.

pixelburp

Jaysus still more than a year out but, yeah. Makes sense I guess given this will probably need a lot of post-production.

Loafing Oaf

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117696556#Comment_117696556

Suggestion here that the picture is of Valinor in the First Age and is therefore from some sort of flashback or prologue.

https://winteriscoming.net/2021/08/02/see-first-image-amazon-lord-of-the-rings-show-sauron-numenor/

jim-jam

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117696784#Comment_117696784

They are definitely the Two Trees, Laurelin and Telperion, in the background which makes that the city of Valimar in the pic.

Really looking forward to exploring this age of Middle-earth now.

TheIrishGrover

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117696556#Comment_117696556

Called it........ Ahem :) SO close...

Agent Coulson

The second season will be filmed in the UK and all the sets will be shipped from New Zealand to the UK.

Amazon really does burn money.

https://deadline.com/2021/08/the-lord-of-the-rings-season-2-move-production-uk-new-zealand-1234813857/

TheIrishGrover

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117745313#Comment_117745313

Read that this morning. My God. They must be getting some SERIOUS tax incentives to do that.

pixelburp

Has to be a tax reason; I imagine the New Zealand film industry is fairly irate about this news though. Justified or not, NZ had become the unofficial home of all things Lord of the Rings; they even re-jigged their tax code, or employment laws IIRC, the last time there was a threat of a shoot (The Hobbit) not coming to the country. I'd not be surprised if Ardern takes some flack for this

AlmightyCushion

I don't think it is taxes causing the move. Probably covid related. New Zealand's strict entry rules due to covid probably makes filming a show and getting cast and crew in a pain. The UK is probably a lot easier than that especially if a lot of the cast and crew are already in Britain.

pixelburp

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117746245#Comment_117746245

Oh yeah, true. The UK has been very busy with film shoots lately, think there has been at least 4 major Hollywood productions there in the last few months alone. Intellectually it makes no difference where they shoot but emotionally it does feel weird reading of Lord of the Rings not shooting in NZ. And as Colsoun remarked, says how much money Amazon has they can pull this stunt. Shame there's no spare dosh for those warehouse workers *yesIwentthereshutup*

silverharp

would viewers notice? , Im sure you find similar enough spots in the Lake District or Scotland just different and lighting might not be the same

pixelburp

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117746419#Comment_117746419

Most viewers? No; but like I said to some - IE, me - Lord of the Rings on 'de telly is now linked with New Zealand and its landscape. A landscape that's sometimes hard to mistake. Sweet Tooth was shot in NEw Zealand and it was only when I saw it in the credits the penny dropped why the external scenes in "America" looked ... wrong, but familiar.

CastorTroy

The article does give some reasons like how cast and crew haven't been able to go home to set their families due to New Zealand's strict lockdown. And having access to multiple locations throughout Europe like GoT did. I'm sure location scouting is easier for the films as have a certain number of scenes but for an ongoing series they would probably want to have more options. Of course the weather won't be as good.

silverharp

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117746486#Comment_117746486

I can often spot indoor office scenes that are supposed to be the US but filmed in Britain even if the actors are all American. It will be interesting to watch out for.

silverharp

depending on their scheduling, they might be saving themselves 6 months catching a Northern hemisphere summer, cant be the reason for it but might have fed into their decision making?

pixelburp

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117746770#Comment_117746770

Not related to foreign shoots, but for me there's often no mistaking that same "generic US corner-street of a city" used everywhere. Always pops up during Brooklyn Nine-Nine for one, dozens other sitcoms needing a quick and easy outdoor scene.

Loafing Oaf

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117746245#Comment_117746245

But surely most of those restrictions will be lifted this year?

AlmightyCushion

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117747271#Comment_117747271

Maybe, maybe not. They will be in place until early next year at least. It could be longer depending on new variants, vaccination roll out in New Zealand (it is pretty poor in Australia going by a friend of mine living there) and who knows what else. So you have a huge production that was already delayed at probably huge cost due to covid and you can't guarantee it won't happen when you start filming for the next season. I can see why they would want to reduce that risk by moving production to somewhere that is likely to have a lot less travel restrictions over the next few months to a year.

Wrongway1985

I dunno I always linked Peter Jackson films with NZ think he's only done one or two outside of there afaik but even with him not at the helm I imagine shooting there initially was certainly due to the feelings described.

Pretty sure Amazon just wrapped up season 2 of the Wilds there but a chunk of the cast and crew are from that part of the world.

Loafing Oaf

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117746664#Comment_117746664

This article summarises the reasons

https://www.timeout.com/news/everything-we-know-about-amazons-massive-lord-of-the-rings-series-081221

The surprise move is motivated by a number of factors, among them COVID concerns, Amazon's ever-expanding footprint in the UK, the desire for actors to be closer to home for the long-haul production schedule, and a desire to expand the geographical scope of the series beyond New Zealand.

Still struggle to see how all that justifies the hassle of upping sticks, but I guess if you've got Amazon's money...

pixelburp

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117751402#Comment_117751402

Think that's the long and short of it. Amazon have absolutely no limits or ceilings to its intent; heck does any show make or lose money? Cos presumably Amazon simply has enough actual cash that Prime Video is a wheeze to them - a side gig unlike Netflix, whose streaming is the only breadwinner.

Heck they have the bandwidth to make not just one famous High Fantasy series, but two! This and Wheel of Time both in production.

Dial Hard

Genuine question - why is there a spoiler warning in the thread title when the show is over a year away from screening and the story has been canon for almost seventy years anyway???

pixelburp

It might be canon but many viewers, including myself, will be coming to the series having only watched the films (or their associated books). The mythology of Tolkien is extensive and given the Second Age upon which the show is created will be a mystery to most - seems fair the minutiae of the written myth stay spoilered.

Similarly applies with any adapted work TBH. Its just especially with something this prescribed.

Dont be at yourself

I wonder will Northern Ireland host any shoots? You’d imagine a fair amount of infrastructure and expertise was built up around GoT over the years.

Agent Coulson

Amazon are in talks with Howard Shore to write the score for the series,

He won 3 Oscars for his scores of the LOTR films.

CastorTroy

But will they have Enya?

pixelburp

Doesn't it just invite more comparison with the movies though? Unless they're actually going to stay stylistically parallel with the Lotr movies of course ...