A horse died during the filming of the big-budget Lord of the Rings spin-off The Rings Of Power, The Mail can reveal on Sunday.
The cast and crew were left “in pieces” after last Tuesday’s tragedy at Shottesbrooke Park in Maidenhead, Berkshire.
The horse was one of 100 that charged at a camera while they were rehearsing a fight scene. He was in full honor and had a rider on his back, although he was not seriously hurt.
It was later determined that the horse had suffered cardiac arrest.
Filming for the Amazon Prime Video series was halted immediately and some staffers were sent home, although production resumed late last week.
Trieste: The horses in a battle scene from the first series
Big budget: Morfydd Clark as Galadrie
Sources say workers were still feeling raw after the incident. One of them told The Mail on Sunday: “It was absolutely heartbreaking. It came out of nowhere. One moment all the horses were running across the field towards the camera and the next they were off.
“Next thing we all knew, it was dead. It was awful. Many tears flowed and people were totally shocked. The decision was immediately made to stop for the day as it felt totally inappropriate to continue.’
After his death, the horse was taken off the set and subjected to an autopsy – an animal version of an autopsy – which found he had died of cardiac arrest.
The horse was one of several hired by leading film supplier The Devil’s Horsemen, who previously provided animals for The Crown, Wonder Woman and Justice League. It featured over 100 well-trained horses ridden by Emma Stone and Angelina Jolie.
READ MORE: Warner Bros. to produce new Lord of the Rings movies in agreement with New Line Cinema
The death will reignite the debate over whether animals should be used for entertainment. In 2012, supervisors working on the set of The Hobbit accused the Warner Bros studio of allowing three horses, six goats and six sheep to die needlessly while they were kept on a farm surrounded by steep banks, sinkholes and other “death traps” are surrounded. littered
The Rings of Power is a drama set thousands of years before the events of JRR Tolkien’s The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings.
Amazon bought the TV rights for Lord Of The Rings projects from the Tolkien estate in November 2017, making The Rings Of Power a five-season commitment worth nearly £1 billion. It has been described as the most expensive television series of all time.
Starring Lenny Henry as Sadoc Burrows and Swedish-born actress Morfydd Clark as Galadriel, the first season aired on Amazon Prime Video last year and garnered more than 25 million views in the first few days – a record for the platform. Developed by American screenwriting duo JD Payne and Patrick McKay, filming for the second season began last October in Bray, near Maidenhead. It was announced last week that Ciaran Hinds, Rory Kinnear and Tanya Moodie are also joining the cast.
Lord of the Rings superfan Prince William, his wife Kate, Prince George and Princess Charlotte were given a private tour of the set in a wooded area at Buttersteep Rise, Ascot, near their home in Windsor last month where they meet has. the cast and looked at props.
An Amazon Studios spokesperson declined to comment, but a company source confirmed that the horse collapsed before filming began and that both a veterinarian and a member of the American Humane Association’s animal welfare group were on set.
They said: “It’s a terribly sad story, our animals are really important members of our cast. Proper protocol was always followed.”
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Ashley Root is an author and celebrity journalist who writes for The Fashion Vibes. With a keen eye for all things celebrity, Ashley is always up-to-date on the latest gossip and trends in the world of entertainment.
