Amazon's most expensive TV series in history, "The Lord of the Rings", stops filming due to COVID-19

Recently, many Hollywood film and television projects have been suspended, and the TV version of "The Lord of the Rings" currently being filmed in Auckland, northern New Zealand has also been affected. According to foreign media Hollywood Reporter, the producer of "The Lord of the Rings" sent a notification email to all crew members and staff on Sunday (March 15), saying that "out of cautious considerations for the epidemic, the project will be suspended for at least two weeks from March 16."

The notice did not disclose when work would resume after the suspension, only stating that "we will continue to evaluate development trends and give new suggestions."

It is understood that Amazon's TV series version of "The Lord of the Rings" has a total of five seasons, with the first season having 20 episodes, with a total investment of $1 billion, which exceeds the investment of the movie trilogy. It also beat "Game of Thrones" (each episode costs about $15 million) and became the most expensive American TV series in history.

Robert Aramayo (Game of Thrones) plays the male protagonist Bardo, Morfyd Clarke (His Dark Materials) plays the young version of Galadriel. Other starring actors include Makayla Kavanagh, Joseph Mawler, Max Baldry and others.

Juan Antonio Bayona, the director of Jurassic World 2, will direct multiple episodes of the first season. According to the official account, the storyline of the drama will take place in the Second Age before Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings - the Age of Numenor, when the dark lord Sauron forged the most powerful One Ring, and the dwarves, humans and elves will unite to fight against Sauron, spanning 3441 years.

Previous news showed that the TV series "The Lord of the Rings" is expected to meet the audience in 2021.