Lord of the Rings series on Amazon Prime to cost whopping $465 million for first season

The Lord of the Rings television show is in the development stages at Amazon Studios. Fans of the trilogy are eagerly waiting for the series and have high expectations from it. The makers seemed to be going above and beyond to not disappoint the fans as they have set a hefty budget for the first season which is being filmed in New Zealand.

Lord of the Rings series first season at Amazon to cost $465 million

The Hollywood Reporter has revealed that The Lord of the Rings series will have Amazon Studios spending roughly NZ$650 million, i.e. $465 million in U.S. dollars, for just the first season. It is far above the previous estimates pegged of an already record-breaking $500 million for multiple seasons. Stuart Nash, New Zealand Minister for economic development and tourism told Morning Report that the upcoming show will be the largest television series ever made.

The Lord of the Rings series has been compared to Game of Thrones ever since its announcement. But it is now disclosed that the budget is way ahead of GoT. HBO’s Game of Thrones cost roughly $100 million to produce per season, with its per-episode cost starting at around $6 million for season one and eventually increasing to around $15 million per episode for the final season.

Amazon is yet to reveal the number of episodes The Lord of the Rings series will consist of, so the cost per episode is unclear. The series required building expansive, elaborate sets and creating expensive costumes, and the makers are planning to shoot seasons back-to-back. Hence, the extra startup costs would be covered over future parts as the foundation will already be laid.

The spending will have Amazon Studios getting a tax rebate of NZ$160 million ($114 million U.S.). The Lord of the Rings series is expected to employ more than 1,200 local people and approximately 700 workers are indirectly working on the production. There might also be a potential surge in tourism as fans of the franchise could visit the shooting locations.

The Lord of the Rings series cast includes Robert Aramayo, Owain Arthur, Ismael Cruz Cordova, Nazanin Boniadi, Joseph Mawle, and many others. It will show the heroic legends of the fabled Second Age of Middle-earth’s history. The epic drama is set thousands of years before the events of The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien. The series is expected to arrive in late 2021 or 2022.

Promo Image Source: A still from The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King