For better or worse, filmmakers and showrunners continue to resume their productions in the face of COVID-19. Among the latest to tread back into the tepid waters of doing stuff after taking some time off are Amazon's Lord of the Rings prequel series as well as Netflix's live action Cowboy Bebop adaptation, both filming in New Zealand.
Following a hiatus caused by coronavirus concerns, New Zealand granted the two shows (as well as another upcoming Netflix series, Sweet Tooth, James Cameron's Avatar sequels, and several other shows and films) special permission in July to resume shooting in the country. Unlike other productions, many of which have already picked up production again throughout 2020, these particular projects had to wait due to New Zealand's laws regarding who is currently allowed to enter the country.
The crew behind The Lord of the Rings seemed to have lucked out in a way when the shutdown hit them, since they had already been planning a hiatus of their own due to New Zealand's impending winter which would halt production on its own anyway. So while the unexpected halt left them slightly behind, they had already almost finished the first two episodes as planned, leaving the writers plenty of time to work on establishing the second season, which had recently been ordered. The show will be set thousands of years before the events of the films, presumably during the time when Sauron first forged the ring of power, so there's plenty of potential for interesting new material.
Cowboy Bebop, meanwhile, was already dealing with its own drama due to a knee injury suffered by star John Cho in fall of 2019. His accident led to a months-long hiatus, which blended into the COVID-19 shutdown, so their return to production has been a long time coming. Cho is playing the lead, Spike Spiegel, in the live-action retelling of the classic anime. The story sees Spiegel, a bounty hunter with lots of skill and lots of chill, traveling around on his spaceship, the Bebop, with a crew of misfits in the search for opportunity.
Pandemic aside, it's good to see both of these shows in active production. Both of them, Cowboy Bebop in particular, have been hotly requested for years to the point where many assumed neither would ever be made. While Bebop has deviated from the original speculated and requested casting of Keanu Reeves as Spike, John Cho is arguably much more suited for the role anyway. No offense to Keanu, but Cho managed to captivate audiences by staring at a screen for 2 hours in 2018's Searching, so a cool space bounty hunter almost seems too easy at this point.
The excitement around these two shows may have waned a little due to their pandemic-driven hiatuses, but knowing they're back in full swing is kind of encouraging. New Zealand has handled the pandemic much more handily than most other countries, so fans can at least breathe a little easier knowing the teams behind these anticipated productions will be in less danger than if they were filming somewhere with more lax rules like the U.S. Hopefully the cast and crew of each show stays safe and doesn't face any more issues.
Source: Deadline