Lord Of The Rings’ Dylan Smith seen in prosthetic makeup

Actor Dylan Smith looked unrecognisable as he treated fans to a behind-the-scenes look at Amazon’s $1 billion Lord Of The Rings’ TV series.

The Canadian thespian took to Instagram on Sunday to upload an image of himself in prosthetic makeup and a matted wig as filming kicked off in New Zealand after the cast were granted permission to enter the country.

Original actor Orlando Bloom, who played Legolas in the film sequel, threw his support behind the new version of the iconic franchise as he revealed he intends to ‘fan it up’ when it’s released on Prime Video next year.

TV star Dylan pulled an animated facial expression from his dressing room, without giving away too many details as he simply captioned his post ‘morning’.

It is unclear what role he will portray on the show, which is based on a different storyline to the famous movies and is set in the Second Age of Middle-earth.

Screen star Orlando, 43, recently shared his delight at the upcoming series and admitted he appreciates that it is ‘not a remake’.

He said during an interview with Collider: ‘I had a few questions for him to begin with… and then I was like, ”You know, I don’t need to know any more”. It’s not, obviously, it’s not a remake. So, I think it could be really, really interesting from that perspective.

‘I remember being on set with Peter Jackson and him saying, ”Can you imagine the day when they do a remake of this movie?” And I was like [shocked]. And then of course here we are, 20 years later… but it’s not a remake.

‘The Lord of the Rings is a title for a world. But I think it’s going to be interesting from that perspective – because if it was a remake I would be like, ”Are you going to take us back into Hobbiton?” It was such an informative time, it had such an impact, so it’s different what’s coming and I think that’s a good thing. 

‘They certainly paid a pretty penny to get it done, to get the rights to do that. No doubt there is a lot riding there on that.’

The script for the series is so heavily-guarded that its locked in a windowless room that requires fingerprint access to enter.

Amazon Chief Jennifer Salke previously spoke with The Hollywood Reporter about the online giant’s future plans for its content when she revealed the measures used to keep the hotly-anticipated show’s storyline a secret.

When asked if she could tell readers anything about the TV adaptation of J.R.R Tolkien’s novels, she said: ‘There’s a fantastic writers room working under lock and key. They’re already generating really exciting material. 

‘They’re down in Santa Monica. You have to go through such clearance, and they have all their windows taped closed.

‘And there’s a security guard that sits outside, and you have to have a fingerprint to get in there, because their whole board is up on a thing of the whole season.’ 

According to Stuff, 206 cast and crew members have been granted permission to enter New Zealand over six months to film the new series.

The Ministry of Business, Innovation, and Employment has allowed seven projects to enter New Zealand amid the coronavirus pandemic.

The series had started filming at a studio in Auckland earlier this year, but the country was forced into lockdown.

It is believed most of the crew remained in New Zealand, however others have been given border exemptions to reenter.

Last month, casting agents for the new TV series were desperately looking for people with ‘funky looking’ features to cast in the mammoth project.