Lord Of The Rings Show, Cowboy Bebop Projects Cleared To Start Filming Again

The New Zealand government has given the green light for entertainment projects to begin filming again in the country, and this includes Amazon's big-budget Lord of the Rings TV show.

New Zealand publication Stuff reports that The Lord of the Rings show, in addition to Netflix's Cowboy Bebop and other shows and movies, have been cleared to start or resume production in the country after COVID-19 shutdowns in March.

The New Zealand Ministry of Business, Innovation, and Employment made the announcement recently. It comes after the local government already cleared James Cameron's Avatar sequels to return to work. The TV show Power Rangers Beast Morphers and the movies The Greatest Beer Run Ever and Sweet Tooth are getting back to work in New Zealand, too.

In its announcement about resuming Hollywood productions in New Zealand, the Ministry of Business, Innovation, and Employment said more than 3,000 jobs will be created and $400 million will be injected in the economy.

For the Lord of the Rings show, the report states that filming itself has not yet begun again, but pre-production has ramped back up.

New Zealand reported three new cases of COVID-19 on July 5, but none of them were locally transmitted. In total, New Zealand has reported 1,183 cases of coronavirus, which compares to nearly 3 million cases in the USA.