IN a major blow to New Zealand’s small but vibrant screen industry, Amazon Studios announced Friday it would film the second season of its original series, inspired by “The Lord of the Rings” of J.R.R. Tolkien, to Britain. “The shift from New Zealand to the U.K. aligns with the studio’s strategy of expanding its production footprint and investing in studio space across the U.K., with many of Amazon Studios’ tentpole series and films already calling the U.K. home,” the company said in a statement. The move came as a blow to many in New Zealand. The production is one of the most expensive in history, with Amazon spending at least US$465 million on the first season, which just finished filming in New Zealand, according to government figures. The series employed 1,200 people in New Zealand directly and another 700 indirectly, according to the figures. Amazon said the as-yet untitled series takes place on Middle-earth during the Second Age, thousands of years before the events depicted in Tolkien’s “The Hobbit” and “The Lord of the Rings” books and the subsequent films directed by Peter Jackson. Filming began last year but was delayed due to the coronavirus. Post-production on the first season will continue in New Zealand through June before the show premieres on Prime Video in September next year. The move to Britain comes just four months after Amazon signed a deal with the New Zealand government to get an extra 5 percent rebate on top of the 20 percent — or US$92 million — it was already claiming from New Zealand taxpayers under a screen production grant. Many locations around the world compete for productions by offering similar, generous rebates. New Zealand became synonymous with Tolkien’s world of orcs, elves and hobbits after Jackson directed six movies in the South Pacific nation. “The Lord of the Rings” trilogy and “The Hobbit” trilogy combined grossed nearly US$6 billion at the box office. The series’ large ensemble cast includes Cynthia Addai-Robinson, Morfydd Clark, Ismael Cruz Córdova, Sophia Nomvete and Lloyd Owen.(SD-Agencies) | 