Part 22 – the final part! – in a series of irreverent tales from my experience as a Tolkien-nerd working as an extra on the first series of Amazon’s The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power television show.
As I filmed my final scenes with Galadriel of the Noldor, daughter of the golden house of Finarfin, commander of the armies of High King Gil-Galad, I did not know they would be my last. There was no wrap yet, but the City Guard were simply not needed for any more scenes – although we did not get confirmation of this just yet. I have since discovered this is par for the course in the life of the extra. You can spend hours and hours in the company of your colleagues over a couple of months and then with no warning it’s over and you never see any of them again.
I had absolutely no complaints about my time on Untitled Amazon Project. Much of it was exhausting, uncomfortable, hot and painful, and at times it was terminally boring. But my memories of it are all very much treasured – above all else it was great fun, and it was worth every second of discomfort. For a Tolkien fan like myself to spend time on these amazing Númenórean sets and share scenes with so many iconic Tolkien characters was an incredible and surreal experience.
Funnily enough, the day after I wrote the above I was back on set for a day of filming as a guard, complete with armour, for a movie. It all felt comfortably familiar as I was strapped into my rig, but after a couple of hours it began to feel very much uncomfortably familiar as the pain began spreading through my shoulders, my back and my feet. And without the wonder of being in Middle-earth, the pain was much, much harder to bear!
It was a shame that the show itself ended on a real sour note in New Zealand. I got a mesage from a friend of mine who worked security on the sets.
“Hey you won’t believe this, I’m on the hobbit set on my own. There’s literally nobody here. Apparently Amazon announced that they were leaving New Zealand and moving the show to the UK, so all the crew and cast downed tools and drove to the pub. I’ll try and get you a souvenir from set!”
(Sidebar: he did get some fake hobbit mushrooms as a souvenir for me, but his dog ate them all)
It was common knowledge that this project would be a ten-year deal in New Zealand for Amazon. Pulling the pin after just one series was a shitty thing to do, and announcing it in public before telling all the crew was even shittier. I don’t think the New Zealand government ever commented directly on the issue, but the unverified story I kept hearing was that Amazon had asked for exemptions to NZ’s Covid-related travel quarantines and the government had rightly said no, leading to a big fuck you from Amazon as they immediately started packing up and moving to the UK. Amazon claimed they had never said they would film all five series in NZ, but that was nonsense and it was sad to see so many good people hurt by the decision. Companies had been set up and people’s lives uprooted on this basis, only for the rug to be pulled out from under them. I spoke to so many affected people over the next year, and Amazon’s name was mud in the NZ film industry.
While I was personally disappointed that my Númenórean guard would no longer get to feature throughout the show, before finally drowning under the great wave, I soon got over it. Although it was hugely upsetting to see the new, inferior city guards wearing My Costume in season 2!
I’ve continued to work in the industry – over the last five years I’ve done some really fun shows and films, met some great people and filled my bag with many, many snacks. I wouldn’t have done any of it if I hadn’t picked up The Hobbit one day from the local library, my young spirit awakened by the promise of adventures over distant snow-capped peaks. And here we are at last at the end of the journey. I’m sorry it took me so long – three years telling this story seems excessive. I will not say do not weep, for not all tears are an evil. I will say I‘ll probably return soon and add an appendix with my thoughts on the show itself. I’ll be back.