The next iteration of Middle-earth is taking a trip across the pond in 2022, and will be portrayed in two brand new locations. According to Variety, season 2 of Amazon’s upcoming Lord of the Rings TV series will be filmed in Bray Film Studios and Bovingdon Airfield in the UK.
News that season 2 of Amazon’s Lord of the Rings series would be filming in the UK broke in August 2021, shortly after it was announced that the company had wrapped filming season 1 in New Zealand. However, specific details and locations have been kept under lock and key until now. Bray Film Studio’s based in the west of London, is known for housing the popular TV series Dracula, and Bodyguard. Meanwhile, Bovingdon Airfield, which is in the northwest of London in Hertfordshire, has 60 acres of open land, and is where the Fast and Furious 6, and the DCEU’s Justice League were filmed.
While both studios have the capacity to film The Lord of the Rings series, this is the first modern adaptation of J.R.R Tolkien’s fantasy epic to be filmed outside of New Zealand. Peter Jackson’s award-winning The Lord of the Rings trilogy, and later his prequel fantasy movies of the Hobbit were filmed in New Zealand. The recent move to the UK for the show after filming season 1 has been a significant upset for the New Zealand production sector. However, Amazon seems confident in its decision.
Dan Grabiner, head of originals at Amazon Studios UK, commented on moving the production to the UK. “I think [the move to the U.K.] speaks to the depth of talent here, the reputation, the skills, the infrastructure,” he explained. “It is a large production. To make an operation like that work, you need world-class people and world-class talents working on it.”
Pre-production for season 2 of The Lord of the Rings TV series is expected to begin in the second half of 2022 in the UK. This means that filming for production in its two UK based locations won’t begin until late 2022 or early 2023. Stay tuned for updates.
The first season of The Lord of the Rings is scheduled to premiere exclusively on the streaming service Amazon Prime Video on September 2, 2022. To sign up for a Prime membership, click our affiliate link here.