How the rings of power turned into magical creatures

It turns out that Middle-earth is a lot of work.

Main video The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Powerthe premiere of which will take place on September 2, returns the audience to the lush fictional landscape created by the author J. R. R. Tolkien. The action takes place 300 years before the events of the hobbit and The Lord of the RingsThe series covers the main events of the Second Age of Middle-earth.

To do this, the production team of the series worked tirelessly to fill every corner with as much detail and history as possible. After all, Prime Video spent nearly $500 million on Rings of Power production in New Zealand.

According to the actors, the money was spent in vain.

“I think as actors it was such a treasure.” Ismael Cruz Cordova, who plays Arondir, exclusively told E! News about arrival on the set. “I remember walking through Southlands for the first time and realizing I’ve never done this before, I’ve never been in an environment like this before and I’ve been acting for about 20 years.”

Maxim Baldrywho plays Isildur, said the sets were not only impressive feats of production and creativity, but they made his job a lot easier.

“They also built a whole city that was phenomenal to just walk through and immerse yourself in,” Baldry said. “It just transported you as an actor right into that world. So we didn’t really need to play, just exist and be.”