Amazon Studios is deep in production on its epic fantasy series inspired by J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings and they are going all out with the budget. It was previously revealed that Amazon had committed to five seasons and that they would spend $1 billion to produce it.
Well, it’s been revealed that the first season alone will cost the streaming service NZ$650 million – $465 million $465 million U.S.! That’s almost half of what they initially planned to spend on all five seasons! That’s insane! I really hope that they put that money to good use and actually develop an incredible series! Good grief, could you imagine if they spent all that money and the show ended up being mediocre?!
Stuart Nash, New Zealand Minister for Economic Development and Tourism, told Morning Report, "What I can tell you is Amazon is going to spend about NZ$650 million in season one alone. This is fantastic, it really is ... this will be the largest television series ever made."
These numbers were released as part of the New Zealand government’s Official Information Act and initially reported by Stuff. These documents also confirm that the studio plans to film all five seasons in New Zealand – as well as possible, as-yet-unannounced spinoff series.
Just to give you a little comparison, HBO was spending about $100 million per season for its Game of Thrones series. So, I guess we can expect the quality of The Lord of the Rings show to be much better. Makes me wish we could watch this series on the big screen to get the full effect.
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.”
Game of Thrones alum Bryan Cogman is serving as a consulting producer on the show, and J.A. Bayona (A Monster Calls, Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom) is set to direct multiple episodes. J.D. Payne and Patrick McKay are leading the charge on the project as the writers and showrunners.
The cast for the series includes Robert Aramayo, Owain Arthur, Nazanin Boniadi, Tom Budge, Morfydd Clark, Ismael Cruz Córdova, Ema Horvath, Markella Kavenagh, Joseph Mawle, Tyroe Muhafidin, Sophia Nomvete, Megan Richards, Dylan Smith, Charlie Vickers, Daniel Weyman, Cynthia Addai-Robinson, Maxim Baldry, Ian Blackburn, Kip Chapman, Anthony Crum, Maxine Cunliffe, Trystan Gravelle, Sir Lenny Henry, Thusitha Jayasundera, Fabian McCallum, Simon Merrells, Geoff Morrell, Peter Mullan, Lloyd Owen, Augustus Prew, Peter Tait, Alex Tarrant, Leon Wadham, Benjamin Walker, and Sara Zwangobani.
