“The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power,” Prime Video’s next streaming series, has a lot riding on it, and by a lot, we mean $58 million each episode. This surpasses Netflix’s rumored $30 million per episode investment in season 4 of “Stranger Things.”
Prime Video will spend $465 million on the eight-episode first season of “The Rings of Power,” which “includes starting expenditures for launching the series, which will likely be spread out over several seasons.” Season 2 of “The Rings of Power” was announced last year to be departing New Zealand, where Peter Jackson shot all of the “Lord of the Rings” and “Hobbit” films, and transferring to the United Kingdom. The show’s high cost was a major reason in the decision, with the BBC stating that “the United Kingdom will be a more cost-effective option heading ahead.”
Prime Video has a lot of studio space in the United Kingdom, and it’s where many of its other programmes are produced. In theory, it’s not strange that an epic fantasy series shot on location like “The Rings of Power” would cost more to create every episode than “Stranger Things.” Surprisingly, HBO’s own fantasy epic, “Game of Thrones” prequel “House of the Dragon,” cost significantly less to make than any of them, with each episode costing only $20 million.
