One of the most expensive TV projects of all time, Amazon's Middle-earth hit The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power debuted its first season to mostly widespread acclaim, and built up a fanbase of fantasy-loving viewers with Prime Video subscriptions. The production on the highly anticipated Season 2 has been ongoing, with new cast members being revealed on a more frequent basis. Unfortunately, though, the studio announced that filming faced a temporary setback in the past week due to the death of a horse on the set. And that news was soon followed by an unsurprisingly negative response from PETA.
Amazon Studios' Statement About Horse's Death
Season 2 has already been boasted as being bigger and more expansive than the first season, with larger battles and more on the way. Such large-scale battle scenes can often require the use of dozens of live horses, and veteran company The Devil's Horsemen supplied the animal in question (among many others) for use on The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power.
According to EW, the horse that died suffered a cardiac arrest on March 21 while standing among 20 or so other horses, and wasn't showing any signs of ill health ahead of time. Here's the official statement from an Amazon Studios spokesperson:
We are deeply saddened to confirm that a production horse died. The incident took place in the morning whilst the horse was being exercised prior to rehearsals. The trainer was not in costume and filming had yet to commence. Both a veterinarian and a representative of the American Humane Association were present at the time. The independent necropsy has confirmed that the horse died of cardiac failure.
As noted, filming hadn't yet started for the day, and the horse was in the midst of a rehearsal period when it passed. It'd reported that this was the first time The Devil's Horsemen had to deal with an animal fatality on set throughout its entire 50-year existence. Prior to working with The Rings of Power, the company has supplied animals for such projects as The Crown, Game of Thrones, Justice League, Wonder Woman, Transformers: The Last Knight, and more.
PETA's Reaction To Rings Of Power's Horse Death
Despite this being the first reported death of any animals in The Devil's Horsemen stable, the news still drew a measured response from the animal rights non-profit PETA. The organization's Senior Vice President Lisa Lange shared the statement below, calling out the Tolkein adaptation for continuing to use living beasts as opposed to finding other ways to indicate horses are present.
It seems that living underground with the orcs is par for the course for the producers of The Rings of Power, because they have the option to use CGI, mechanical rigs, and other humane methods that wouldn’t run vulnerable horses to death on set. PETA is calling on the show’s creators—and all other producers—to take on a new quest without using any real horses. If they can’t avoid exploiting animals for their art, they should find a new medium, because no one wants to see a spinoff for TV with torment as the theme.
The Rings of Power is but the latest Lord of the Rings project to earn PETA's ire. More than a decade ago, the New Zealand production for Peter Jackson's The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey reportedly led to more than two dozen animal deaths, as revealed publicly by multiple whistleblowers at the time. Three horses and a pony were allegedly killed, along with a variety of goats, sheep and chickens.
It was also a little over a decade ago when one of the most high-profile cases occurred, with three horses dying during the production of HBO's horse-racing drama Luck, which was cancelled after a single season due to the animal safety concerns. HBO's The Gilded Age also took heat for a horse's death that was reported in July 2022.
Already in 2023, PETA has gone after Joel McHale's Fox comedy Animal Control for its use of various live animals for its episodes, while also targeting a request at Kenan Thompson and Kel Mitchell's sequel Good Burger 2 to utilize non-animal meat products for its fictional fast food menu. The fact that a whole new series of theatrical Lord of the Rings projects is on the way probably isn't flying under the radar around that office.
