The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power was well-received by fans, and its second season has been highly anticipated since filming began in October 2022. The production hasn’t been without its struggles, though. The Amazon Prime Video series’ diverse cast has been forced to defend the show amid online backlash — even while adding several new actors for Season 2 — and in March it was revealed that a horse had died during production. The Rings of Power set experienced another (seemingly minor) setback April 3, when a fire broke out on set. Maybe that kind of thing is expected when dealing with the fiery lands of Mordor?
Filming was halted for about an hour, Deadline reports, after an electrical fire broke out at Bray Studios in the UK. The blaze reportedly started in a warehouse on the edge of the back lot. According to a statement from the Royal Berkshire Fire and Rescue Service:
At 12:26pm on Monday, 3 April, we received reports of a fire at Bray Studios near Windsor. Upon arrival, crews discovered a fire in a single-storey warehouse.
The rescue service confirmed that engines from Bracknell, Slough and Maidenhead Fire Stations were all dispatched to the scene. No injuries were reported, and it hasn’t been confirmed at this time how much damage was incurred for what is already one of the most expensive TV projects of all time. With filming resuming shortly after the fires were put out, it seems the blaze was much less dramatic than those of Sauron’s lair.
The fire comes just over a week after it was learned that a horse had died on the set of The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power. The horse reportedly suffered a cardiac arrest during a rehearsal period before the start of filming on March 21, while it was standing among 20 or so other horses. Sources say it wasn't showing any signs of ill health ahead of time.
Even so, and despite this being the first reported death of any animals in The Devil's Horsemen stable, PETA issued a plea for filmmakers to use humane measures — including CGI or mechanical rigs — rather than live horses in its scenes.
Amazon has promised bigger and better things to come in Season 2, after so much story had to be established in Season 1, and anticipation is high particularly after a season’s worth of speculation resulted in that big Sauron reveal at the end of the first offering of The Lord of the Rings prequel. Plenty of questions remain for Season 2 that fans can’t wait to have answered, so hopefully from here on out, the drama won’t spill over from the scripts to the production.
While we wait for more information regarding a release date, Season 1 can be streamed with an Amazon Prime subscription, and you can also revisit The Lord of the Rings movies.
