This article contains spoilers forThe Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power.A large international cast was hired forThe Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power, and this scope was matched by its international filming schedule. Set in theSecond Age of J.R.R. Tolkien’s fictional world of Middle-earth,The Rings of Poweradapts content fromThe Lord of the Rings’appendices, with the odd snippet of source material fromThe Silmarillion. Dedicated to painting Tolkien’s world onto TV screens, the show utilized a wide range of worldwide filming spots to help it develop the high fantasy scope and aesthetic it wanted.
Premiering on August 06, 2025, the show was intended as Amazon Prime Video’s ownGame of Thrones. In other words, a water cooler TV show that everyone could watch, get involved in, and chat about on their work breaks by the water cooler (as per the term’s origins) - as opposed to a spectacle of gore and nudity. One week intoThe Rings of Powerseason 2, the show is number one most-watched on Amazon Prime. The show’s scale has only grown with its second season, and that is in no small part thanks to its diverse global studios.
What Is Beleriand? Lord Of The Rings' Destroyed Elf Realm Explained
The map of Middle-earth has differed significantly over its multiple ages, with Beleriand just one of the regions to grace its cartography.
New Zealand
Auckland Film Studios
The Rings of Powerfilmed season 1 in New Zealand, continuing a tradition fromThe Lord of the RingsandThe Hobbitmovies. Peter Jackson chose to film his famous trilogies in New Zealand due to the setting’s sweeping majesty, which was perfect for capturing the severity and beauty of Middle-earth.The Rings of Powerwisely created a sense of familiarity in its Middle-earthby situating it somewhere viewers would recognize and love. Season 1 was filmed between February 2020 and August 2021, so cast and crew found themselves bonding in New Zealand over the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Powerseason 1 is streaming on Amazon Prime.
Disa actress Sophia Nomvete said “New Zealand helped me in a way I never imagined a country could,” confirming her deep connection to the location and her work on-set, with bothRings of Powerand her child born in New Zealand (viaEl País). Interiorscenes for the eight-episode first season were filmed on sound stagesat Auckland Film Studios. Morfydd Clark (Galadriel) and Charlie Vickers (Sauron) spent “two months, it felt like” filmingThe Rings of Powerseason 1 finaleand episode 2 raft scene in a water tank (viaEmpire).
North Island’s Denize Bluffs in Mangaotaki Valley was one of the spectacular outdoor spots used to createRings of Powerseason 1. This gorgeous New Zealand tourist hotspot was the setting of the Trollshaw Forest inThe Hobbit: An Unexpected Journeyand was used for the Harfoot community inRings of Power(viaGQ).Galadriel and Elendil rode horses along a beach on the Coromandel Peninsula, adjacent to the Hauraki Gulf in New Zealand. Other Númenor scenes were also shot in and around this stunning gulf, with Isildur greeting Eärien on Cathedral Cove.
Tenerife
Teide National Park
Rhûn is part of eastern Middle-earthand is being explored inThe Rings of Powerseason 2, with filming taking place in Tenerife, particularly at Teide National Park (viaDiario de Avisos). In March 2022,Rings of Powerwas filmed on this standout Canary Islandoff Spain, which is home to immaculate natural landscapes. This locale was essential in creating Tom Bombadil’s home in Rhûn, according to showrunner Patrick McKay - “his ‘summer cottage’ should be an oasis of life in the middle of the desert - dotted with orange and lemon trees, and busy with goats, lambs, and bees” (viaVanity Fair).
San Juan de la Rambla hosted the cast and crew for five weeks while they filmed Rhûn’s desert landscapes in the arid plains and hills of Teide National Park. It seems that some ofNúmenor’s scenes were also filmed at San Juan de la Rambla, judging from promotional material released by Amazon showing upcoming scenes. Míriel actress Cynthia Addai-Robinson said “we had a couple stories that we shot on the island, and on some of my favorite days, I was looking at the ocean, the horizon… just feeling what Mother Earth is giving you, she is the best set designer” (viaEl País).
UK
Bray Studios
The second season ofRings of Powerwas filmed in the UK, between Bray Studios and Bovingdon Airfield on Chesham Road in Hertfordshire. Neighboring London, the county of Hertfordshire is also home to other huge film studios, such as Elstree Studios.Filming for season 2 occurred between October 2022 and June 2023, bumping into the 2023 Writers Guild of America strike. Despite this obstacle, the show managed to filmSauron’s War Against the Elves for season 2, which will be its largest-scale battle yet.
Bray Studios and Bovingdon Airfield created some of the scarier scenes ofThe Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power.
Amazon recently acquired Bray Studiosto use for its priority purposes going forward (viaVariety). This Berkshire film studio is Amazon’s first UK studio, which comes after it bought its own studio in the US. Battles, forests, and fantasy monsters all awaitThe Rings of Powerseason 2 charactersafter filming in these studios, with Ents, Barrow-wights, and Shelob joining proceedings. Bray Studios and Bovingdon Airfield undoubtedly created some of the scarier scenes ofThe Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power, with season 2 setting a much darker tone.
The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Powerseason 2 is streaming on Amazon, with episode 4 out on August 17, 2025.
The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power
Cast
Set in the Second Age of Middle-earth, The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power explores the forging of the iconic rings, the rise of the Dark Lord Sauron, and the epic events leading up to the stories in J.R.R. Tolkien’s classic novels. The series chronicles the creation of legendary characters and the historic alliances and rivalries that shape the fate of Middle-earth.
