Amazon’s upcoming “Lord of the Rings” TV series will cost about $ 465 million to produce one season, Variety has confirmed.
Radio New Zealand reported that the series, which is currently being recorded in the country, will spend NZ $ 650 million in Season 1, equating to $ 464,165,000 in US dollars. Sources confirmed Variety that the hefty price tag is correct.
The cost of “Lord of the Rings” is much higher than other high-end TV shows such as HBO’s “Game of Thrones,” Apple’s “The Morning Show” and Disney Plus “The Mandalorian, all of which cost about $ 15 million per episode. estimates for “Lord of the Rings” put the production budget at $ 500 million for multiple seasons, not to mention the cost of $ 250 million just for the rights to author JRR Tolkien’s estate.
Stuart Nash, the Secretary of Economic Development and Tourism, told Radio New Zealand, “This is fantastic, it really is … What I can tell you is that Amazon is going to spend about $ 650 million in season one alone.”
“This will be the greatest television series ever made,” added Nash.
Variety broke the news about the “Lord of the Rings” series in 2017, but details have been sparse ever since. The logline says the series will take place thousands of years before the events of the films ‘Lord of the Rings’ and ‘The Hobbit’ and will transport fans back to an era when great powers were forged, kingdoms rose to glory and fell into ruin and improbable heroes were put to the test. It also features the greatest villain to ever come out of Tolkien’s pen and threatens to cover the entire world in darkness.
The cast 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 and Daniel Weyman.