THE LORD OF THE RINGS: Amazon Series Is The Most Expensive TV Show Ever Made...For Just One Season

We know that The Lord of the Rings TV series coming to Amazon is going to be grand in scale, but if these numbers are anything to go by, the budget for the first season eclipses everything else on TV...

By JoshWilding - Apr 16, 2021 11:04 AM EST

Filed Under: Lord of the Rings

We've seen nothing from Amazon's The Lord of the Rings TV show, but it's going to be a series on a scale like nothing else on television if these figures are any indication. According to The Hollywood Reporter, the first season of the show has cost a whopping $465 million to produce.

That's an insane amount of money, especially when it was previously reported that the streaming service would spend roughly $500 million on multiple seasons of the J.R.R. Tolkien adaptation.

"What I can tell you is Amazon is going to spend about $650 million [New Zealand dollars] in season one alone," Stuart Nash, New Zealand Minister for Economic Development and Tourism reveals, sharing a figure which has since been confirmed by the trade. "This is fantastic, it really is...this will be the largest television series ever made."

It had better be for that money, and to put this into perspective for you, a standard season of Game of Thrones cost around $100 million to produce. During its first season, a standard episode cost $6 million, though that rose to $15 million by those divisive final episodes.

A lot of this money has likely been spent on sets and costumes which will be used moving forward, but these production costs are massive, and The Lord of the Rings is a major investment for Amazon.

Will it pay off? We'll see...

Click on the "Next" button below to check out the 10
best moments from The Lord of the Rings movies!

10. Balin's Tomb

Moria played a huge role in The Fellowship of the Ring, but just topping "You shall not pass!" as this part of the movie’s standout scene is the battle which saw the titular team fighting together for the first time.

They had expected to find something else altogether in the caves, but instead had the odds stacked against them with a swarm of goblins on the way (with an enslaved troll in tow).

Gimli channelling his grief into rage as he set out to avenge his slaughtered kin was particularly exciting, as was seeing The Hobbits getting involved. Once again, Jackson even tricked us into thinking that Frodo may have met his demise...

9. The Fall Of Sauron

It sometimes feels like Howard Shore’s score for The Lord of the Rings Trilogy doesn’t get the credit it deserves. If you need one example of just how amazing it is, look no further than this epic moment from The Return of the King.

It reaches a triumphant peak as we witness the fall of Barad Dur and Sauron’s Eye blinking out of existence at last. Mordor collapses in on itself, the Orcs are wiped out, and the relief of our heroes is clear to see as they realise that Frodo managed to succeed on his quest to destroy the ring.

Gandalf’s reaction is particularly touching as he realises that his faith in the Hobbit was entirely justified.

8. Smeagol vs. Gollum

After the teasing glimpse we mentioned a little earlier in this feature, The Two Towers held nothing back when it came to how much screen time Andy Serkis’ Gollum (deservedly) received.

He’s compelling from start to finish, but it’s the scenes where we see Gollum battling with Smeagol which really stand out as being the most memorable. This is an inner struggle which effectively shows off his insanity and that there is at least still some good within him.

It’s a credit to Jackson and Serkis that they were also able to inject some humour into these scenes, and his ultimate fate is made all the more tragic by them in some ways.

7. The Final Battle

As we’ve already mentioned, it wouldn’t be at all difficult to single out twenty individual moments from the epic final battle in The Return of the King, and props to Peter Jackson for both having the guts to try to top the Battle of the Helm’s Deep from The Two Towers, and for sending out this franchise in style.

There’s so much to praise here, whether it’s Legolas taking on the Oliphaunt or the breathtaking sight of the Rohan arriving and riding into battle. The filmmaker struggled to top this in The Hobbit movies, even if the technology had advanced, and the final film was basically one big fight sequence.

It’s hard to say, but we have no doubt that he’ll once again have tremendous fun delivering an awe-inspiring final fight.

6. Sam's Speech

It’s no wonder that Sam’s monologue at the end of The Two Towers is regarded as one of the best moments from the entire trilogy.

It’s a wonderful speech which works perfectly with what we’re seeing on screen as he’s saying it, and the fact that we can so easily relate to its message even though Sam is talking about events in such a drastically different world says a lot about just how human these characters are.

As a result, this is a beautiful, touching, and uplifting moment which serves to remind the viewer that they’re sitting there watching something truly very special and magical. It’s stuff like this which makes these movies great.

5. The Darkness Within Bilbo Baggins

At the time these movies were released, the scenes in which we caught just a fleeting glimpse of the negative effects keeping the ring had had on Bilbo Baggins over the years were shocking enough.

After all, just how many years away was he from becoming Gollum? Not only that, but this was also a devastating look ahead at what might be to come for poor Frodo.

Of course, watching them again after seeing The Hobbit means they take on an altogether more tragic feel, as we see just how much an impact his adventures and the discovery of the ring had on the Bilbo who was once content to stay in Bag End.

4. Gollum’s Death

It seemed like there was always a chance that Gollum might be somehow redeemed, but just as the darkness inevitably consumes Frodo, he simply can’t escape the lure of the ring. Doing everything and anything he can to finally regain his precious, the look of pure joy on Gollum’s face as he finally gets his hands back on it is a great but obviously very short-lived moment.

It’s ultimately hard not to be both sad and glad about his death, but there’s no denying that it’s almost heartbreaking to see what the ring has done to him as he plunges into the fiery chasms of Mount Doom. Thankfully Frodo doesn’t join him, but we’ll get to that soon...

3. The Fellowship Forms

The first hour of The Fellowship of the Ring focused almost entirely on The Hobbits and their quest to reach The Council of Elrond, and when they finally did, we were introduced to all the different cultures of Middle Earth.

This scene helped to set up the event and themes which would continue throughout the trilogy, as well as the formation of the Fellowship, of course. However, perhaps the best moment was when Frodo interrupts the heated debate and volunteers to carry the ring to Mordor to destroy it.

It’s a powerful moment for the character and is the key moment that kicked off one of cinema’s most epic quests.

2. Battle of Helm’s Deep

This is one of those scenes which will live forever, and is undoubtedly one of the greatest large scale battle sequences to ever grace the big screen. To squeeze this entire battle into a single moment may seem like a bit much, but bear with us...

What’s not to love about this one? You have a ton of really cool action beats, but also some fantastic character moments (particularly between Legolas and Gimli). All of this culminates in Gandalf’s appearance – "Look to my coming on the first light of the fifth day" – topping off this breathtaking and action-packed sequence in a satisfying and exciting fashion.

It doesn’t get much better than this!

1. Sam Carries Frodo

The relationship between Frodo and Sam was the heart of the trilogy, and the bond between these two was perhaps never better demonstrated than in this touching moment from the final act of The Return of the King.

The simple gardener struggles to life his master and friend up the searing slopes of Mount Doom, but manages to achieve the impossible, showing that you should never truly doubt someone. Seeing Sam’s heart break when he realises that Frodo can’t give up the ring is also particularly moving, as is what follows when it’s finally destroyed.

With sweeping battles of the powerful fight between good and evil to quicken the blood it is the smallest moments which truly touch the heart.

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83 Comments

1 2 3

SimplyAz - 4/16/2021, 11:47 AM

Bloody hell.
Really excited for those who are LOTR fans as they should be getting an amazing show, which looks great.

Maybe It's time for me to watch the movies again, haven't seen them since they first came out.

BigMikeReviews - 4/16/2021, 11:48 AM

I could be wrong but isn't a good chunk of that money supposed to go to the Tolkien estate?

JohnPain - 4/16/2021, 11:53 AM

@BigMikeReviews -

This is the production cost, not the $250 million that was previously paid for the rights.

The1st - 4/16/2021, 11:54 AM

@JohnPain -

BigMikeReviews - 4/16/2021, 11:54 AM

@JohnPain - Wow ok, thanks for clarifying. That's alot of Mithril!

BrainySleep - 4/16/2021, 11:57 AM

@The1st - Bit OT but thinking of Damien Lewis losing his wife today. RIP.

The1st - 4/16/2021, 1:03 PM

@BrainySleep - Yeah, I was hamming a bit. Agreed though, it seems like there's been so much loss. Everyone rightfully talks about 2020 being some year, but I think it'll be years before it gets truly better. She's another who's definitely gone too soon.

BrainySleep - 4/16/2021, 1:10 PM

@The1st - Definitely, well said.

inkniron - 4/16/2021, 11:48 AM

That's "only" 464.1M US. How many episodes? How many hours? Could be a bargain considering how how much money was poured into Endgame and JL.

World wide, there probably is as big of a demand for new LOTR content as CBM.

lordSTALE - 4/16/2021, 12:01 PM

@inkniron - But Endgame and Justice League got box office money and streaming money after, the former got its money back multiple times over just from BO

Amazon would need to draw a massive amount of new subscribers to cover the cost of this show. This is more than what Wandavision, Falcon/WinterSoldier and Loki cost combined

Se4M4NSt4ine - 4/16/2021, 11:51 AM

I hope it looks and feels like Jackson’s Middle Earth, but captures a much different tone from what we’ve seen before.

dracula - 4/16/2021, 11:58 AM

You know whats underrated

Sucks they didnt do the second part

Also the animated hobbit is better than the trilogy

narrow290 - 4/16/2021, 12:26 PM

@dracula - Absolutely! LOVE this version

dracula - 4/16/2021, 12:31 PM

@narrow290 - Its also what got Jackson into Lord Of The Rings.

narrow290 - 4/16/2021, 12:49 PM

@dracula - Right on, you can see the influences for sure

IcePyke - 4/16/2021, 2:57 PM

@dracula -
I aggre!
I still have the VHS copy.
I f*cking love this movie!!
It's shame that doesn't have a sequel 😕

Jimster - 4/16/2021, 8:12 PM

@dracula - The animated Hobbit was my favorite movies growing up and introduced me to the world of Tolkien at the age of 5. I still watch it to this day. And the soundtrack really stuck with me too. Especially this one:

1 2 3

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THE LORD OF THE RINGS: Amazon Series Is The Most Expensive TV Show Ever Made...For Just One Season

We know that The Lord of the Rings TV series coming to Amazon is going to be grand in scale, but if these numbers are anything to go by, the budget for the first season eclipses everything else on TV...

10. Balin's Tomb

9. The Fall Of Sauron

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7. The Final Battle

6. Sam's Speech

5. The Darkness Within Bilbo Baggins

4. Gollum’s Death

3. The Fellowship Forms

2. Battle of Helm’s Deep

1. Sam Carries Frodo

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