A BRAND new Lord of the Rings television series looks set to be filmed in Scotland with a whopping £1 billion budget.

Scouts from Amazon Studios, posing as tourists, earmarked locations across the nation such as Skye, Perthshire and Loch Lomond as potential spots to start filming.

With the largest budget in television history, the new series is expected to start shooting later this year.

Amazon paid £200 million for the global rights to JRR Tolkien's Lord of the Rings, and will be creating the new series with the assistance of the Tolkien Estate and Trust, Harper Collins and New Line Cinema.

While the plot is currently under wraps, fans have speculated that it will follow the early life of Aragorn, who was played by Viggo Mortensen in the Lord of the Rings films

Head of Amazon Studios, Jennifer 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."

It's expected to start broadcasting in 2021.