Middle Earth no more

Stuff reports:

Amazon’s decision to shift production of its Lord of the Rings TV series to the United Kingdon is a blow to the New Zealand screen industry, which is heading into an “MIQ-induced coma”.

On Friday, it was revealed Amazon Studios would shift production of the second season of the as-yet-untitled project to the UK.

Post-production of the first season, shot largely in Auckland, would remain in New Zealand until June 2022.

Amazon had said as recently as April it intended to continue production in New Zealand.

Screen Industry Guild Aotearoa New Zealand (SIG) president, Brendon Durey, said the decision to take the series elsewhere would be a blow to many of the estimated 2000 New Zealanders involved in the project.

This is a huge blow – both in terms of lost jobs here, but also the opportunity to showcase NZ to what will be a huge global audience.