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Lord of the Rings TV Show Given Go Ahead To Resume Filming in New Zealand
Amazon's Lord of the Rings and Netflix’s adaptation of Cowboy Bebop are granted permission to resume filming in New Zealand amid the coronavirus pandemic. In March, the World Health Organization declared the coronavirus a pandemic, forcing film and television productions to come to an abrupt halt worldwide. Earlier this year, Amazon’s Lord of the Rings series had been making ample headway into production at West Auckland, New Zealand when cast and crew were sent home until further notice.
Per Stuff (via Collider), New Zealand’s Ministry of Business, Innovation, and Employment has granted permission for select production crews to enter the country, including those involved with Lord of the Rings and Cowboy Bebop. Reportedly, Lord of the Rings will resume preliminary work on the first two episodes of the highly-anticipated series. Starring John Cho as Spike Spiegel, Cowboy Bebop will start filming from scratch once the cast and crew cross the border into New Zealand.
Adamant about keeping safety precautions against COVID-19 in place, New Zealand will also allow cast and crew for Power Rangers Beast Morphers, The Greatest Beer Run Ever, and Sweet Tooth to enter the country over the next few months. As it stands, James Cameron’s Avatar 2 and Jane Campion’s The Power of the Dog are currently filming in New Zealand while abiding by safety guidelines.
New Zealand has done an excellent job at controlling their COVID-19 outbreak and have eased most quarantine restrictions. Opening their borders, however, has remained a topic of some discussion seeing as parts of the world, in particular the United States, are seeing an alarming increase in COVID-19 cases. Allowing work to resume on Amazon’s Lord of the Rings and Netflix’s Cowboy Bebop appears to worth the risk, though, since film productions are important to the country's economy. And in the wake of the pandemic, New Zealand's economy is likely to welcome the boost.
