Prime Video has decided to break with Peter Jackson's legacy by leaving New Zealand to shoot its second season of The Rings of Power in the United Kingdom. Behind this questionable choice, there are obvious reasons mentioned by director Charlotte Brändström and actress Morfydd Clark (Galadriel).
A break with the Lord of the Rings films by Peter Jackson
This season 2 of The Rings of PowerIs it doing even worse than its predecessor? The answer is favorable according to a majority of the specialized press. Stoned from all sides, the spin-off of The Lord of the Rings is doing better on the spectator side. Far from approving the series, the public is (a little) more conciliatory towards this new salvo of episodes which deploys its new unconnected narrative arcs.
With its enormous budget, the series is obviously (and fortunately) still as beautiful aesthetically. However, the teams chose to leave New Zealand to film in the United Kingdom. A very strong choice since it marks a break with the tradition established by Peter Jackson for the filming of his films, in the heart of the wild and majestic landscapes of the country of Oceania.
the reasons for abandoning New Zealand
Questioned on the subject by the magazine Première, the director of the series Charlotte Brändström and the interpreter of Galadriel, Morfydd Clark, explained the choice of Amazon. A logistical decision according to the Welsh actress, which adds the argument of the uprooting experienced by a large part of the teams.
This time, we no longer live in a vacuum. In New Zealand, we didn't know anyone. Only the people we worked with on set. So we formed a troupe, in front of and behind the camera. There, as we all live more or less in England, we can go home on the weekend and return to a normal life after work…”
For her part, director Charlotte Brändström reports that Her Majesty's country offers e best forest settings to shoot “lots of night scenes” (think of Isildur's attack by the spiders in the third episode).
A huge part of the material sets that were in New Zealand were transported to England. And then since we filmed a lot in the forest at night… let's be honest: there is nothing that looks more like a wood than another wood! And I would even say that the trees are more beautiful in England, since we were lucky enough to film a good part of season 2 in Windsor Great Park, west of London, which includes extraordinary thousand-year-old oak trees. We used nature a lot and we even use fewer special effects this year…”
On the other hand, and as Premiere points out, England “offers a 25% tax reduction thanks to a government tax relief program.” This seems very motivating for Prime Video to reduce the colossal cost of the series. It should be remembered that the five planned seasons cost no less than a billion dollars, and that $465 million was spent on season 1 alone.