Scotland would have been a fine location but it’s New Zealand again, and it’s difficult to argue with the choice.
https://www.google.com.sg/amp/s/amp.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2019/sep/18/amazons-lord-of-the-rings-tv-show-to-be-filmed-in-new-zealand
They're playing it safe and keeping an eye on saving money. It's disappointing as I never bought the marketing line that "New Zealand is Middle Earth". What a con that was. There are so many better locations around the world. But New Zealand is cheap and it can stand in location wise for most LOTR requirements if you aren't fussy.
I don't disagree with you - this is clearly a financial decision (and I have my suspicions that this thing is going to disappoint in more ways than one), but many parts of the South Island, at least, have an otherworldly quality and an incredible, dramatic beauty, and I found it was a perfect Middle Earth for the movies.
shareWell they've already built up a huge studio over there, they'd be fools not to use it.
shareShould be England but I don't mind the rest of Britain, The Lord of the Rings were conceived by J. R. R. Tolkien as the original stories behind an ancient but long lost English mythology.
Absolutely. Continental Middle Earth should be New Zealand.
However, the island of Numenor should look markedly different, and yeah, they ought to start looking in the British Isles. If they want someplace gorgeous and exotic in that part of the world, they could start with Scotland and its offshore islands.
It'll be Tasmania.
shareReally? Tell me more!
shareThat was just a guess on my part because it is a relatively nearby island to NZ.
shareAh. Well, I'd be surprised if they went with Tasmania or anywhere in Australia, isn't Numenor described as having a huge central mountain? Nothing like that in Australia, their mountains are low and rounded compared to New Zealand's, although of course a single huge mountain can be CGI'd onto anyplace. And from the descriptions I've heard of Tasmania and the pictures I've seen, the place has a subtle and austere beauty, featuring more low brushlands than forests, mountains, or meadows, and well, it's possible they want something more in-your-face spectacular for Numenor.
So I'm going to stick by MY guess of the Isle of Skye and its neighbors north of Scotland, the places are green and spectacular in a way that's nothing like New Zealand.
http://www.isleofskye.com/images/Gallery/Storr-Summer.jpg
So I presume they're looking for an island with a temperate climate to use as their basic stand-in for Numenor, which does kind of limit the choice of actual islands available on this planet. Australia and New Zealand, the Mediterranean (although those islands might look too dry), islands off Korea and Japan, and yes, off the British Isles. Which is what Prof. Tolkien would probably choose.
What is the obsession with NZ? Canada, USA, and most European countries have all of the same landscapes. Rocky hills, lush forests, deserts, fertile plains, coasts...
You name it, it's in those places.
Well the biggest reason that New Zealand played Middle Earth in the LOTR movies was that it was some New Zealanders that wanted to make the movies in the first place, and they were out to both make films and show off their spectacular country. And they got the New Zealand government and pretty much everyone in the country to chip in with the filmmaking process.
So now that everyone in the world thinks that Middle-Earth looks like New Zealand, why change now!
But of course, a show about Numenor will require some new locations that don't look like New Zealand, see above.