The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power trailer from Amazon
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Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power will be airing on Amazon Prime Video from September 1. The fantasy drama takes place thousands of years before the events of the original films and viewers will be transported back to Middle-earth. Express.co.uk has all you need to know about the production costs for the series.
How much did The Rings of Power cost to make?
Amazon bought the TV rights for The Lord of the Rings story for $250 million (£213 million) in November 2017.
When season one was given the green light it was revealed making a five-season production would cost up to $1 billion (£851 million).
By the time the series ends, it would make The Rings of Power the most expensive television series ever made.
According to xfire.com, the total bill for the first season is $715 million (£588 million).
Split across the eight initial episodes, the total cost is $89 million (£75 million) per episode.
For context, this is nearly three times the cost per episode for Stranger Things season four.
The cost is almost four times what HBO had reportedly spent per episode of House of the Dragon.
Amazon was happy to throw money at the first season as they even paid $13 million (£11 million) to air a trailer at this year’s Super Bowl Halftime show.
When it came to the filming, New Zealand’s Minister of Economic Development and Tourism, Stuart Nash, revealed Amazon was spending NZ$650 million (US$465 million) on the first season.
Amazon later announced it was moving production of the already-approved season two to the UK.
Filming wrapped on the first season on August 2, 2021 and a whopping 38 filming locations were chosen.
Jeff Bezos, the founder and former CEO of Amazon, has a net worth of around US$159 billion (£135 billion).
As the second-wealthiest person in the world according to Billionaires Index and Forbes, the was willing to pay an astonishing amount for the rights to Tolkien’s story.
Speaking to Time about the new series, he said: “Middle-earth is such a beloved world, and telling the story of the forging of The Rings of Power is a privilege and a responsibility.
“I hope we do Tolkien’s work justice. It goes beyond making a commercially successful show. Everyone working on the show read these stories as kids and our hearts are in it.”
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Morfydd Clark takes on the role of Galadriel for the new series and she said she was looking forward to playing the “aggressor”.
Speaking to GQ, director J.A. Bayona said: “From the very beginning we knew that she was going to be the woman.
“She was so strong and there was this little bit of anger in her eyes that made the character so attractive.
“That tells you a little bit about what the show is about, how far would you go to defeat evil? How much would you sacrifice?”
Comedian and actor Lenny Henry stars in the series as Sadoc Burrows and he praised the show’s inclusivity.
He told The Times: “Of course, if you go back, there’s going to be that thing that prevails because the books don’t say… although some of the characters are described as hard-skinned and darker in complexion.
“But that was then, this is now and we’re telling the story now.”
“I didn’t see anybody in charge of anything that looked like me for a very long time,” he added.
Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power airs on Amazon Prime Video from September 1.
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