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A £1billion Lord of the Rings TV series is set to be filmed in Scotland.

Scouts from online streaming giants Amazon Studios posed as tourists while visiting potential locations last summer.

Production staff checked out Portree on the Isle of Skye, Dunskey Castle and Portpatrick in the south-west and Scourie in the north-west.

They also visited sites around Callander in Perthshire, and Balloch Castle Country Park, near Loch Lomond.

The prequel to JRR Tolkien’s trilogy is set to have the biggest budget in television history.

(Image: Getty Images/iStockphoto)

Filming is set to start this year and executives hope the series will be on air by 2021.

The plot has been kept secret but fan sites have speculated it will focus on the life of Aragorn, played by Viggo Mortensen in the big-screen productions.

Amazon paid £200million for the global rights to Lord of the Rings and a budget of £1billion has been set aside by studio executives.

They will produce the series with help from the Tolkien Estate and Trust, book publishers Harper Collins and New Line Cinema.

(Image: Getty Images for IMDb)

An insider said: “When Amazon people scouted locations, they didn’t make themselves known, acted as tourists and connected straight away with local communities.”

Films of Tolkien’s books were directed by Peter Jackson and filmed in New Zealand.

He directed The Fellowship of the Rings – based on the first volume of Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings – and won four Oscars.

It was followed by The Two Towers in 2002 and The Return of the King the year after – based on the second and third volumes of the trilogy.

Amazon Studios head Jennifer Salke confirmed last June that a deal for the TV series had been struck.

She was reported as saying the series would be in production within “two years” and likely on air by 2021. She added that Amazon were working on “one big series” as opposed to multiple series.

(Image: Getty Images)

Salke said: “We’re not remaking the movies, but we’re also not starting from scratch. It’ll be characters people love. There’s no shortage of ambition for the project.”

A report by the Glasgow Film Office said movie productions in the city brought in £15.1million in 2017. Edinburgh’s economy was boosted by £16.1million over the same period.

Superhero blockbuster Avengers: Infinity War was shot in the capital and historical drama Outlaw King was filmed in multiple locations in 2017 – including Edinburgh, West Lothian, Aviemore and Glencoe. It is estimated to have been worth about £17.5million to the economy.

We told in December that Netflix executives are in talks about a major TV spin-off to Outlaw King.

It’s understood filming of the four or five-part series – possibly entitled The Outlaw Robert – could begin this year.

Creative Scotland were unable to confirm the filming of Lord of the Rings due to confidentiality. Amazon did not respond to a request for comment.