Principal photography took place in New Zealand while post-production elements including visual effects and music were all edited and integrated together in Los Angeles. Ian Bohen played Young Hercules in the pilot movie was offered the part, but opted not to move to New Zealand where the series would shoot principal photography. Early on in the series, special visual effects were conceived by Richard Taylor's WETA Workshop, the then little known visual effects company that went on to win several Academy Awards for their superb work on The Lord of the Rings. Weta and Richard Taylor stepped off "Young Hercules" early on to work on "Lord of the Rings." In fact, the early production days of "Young Hercules" saw many of its crew leave to work on the then little known Peter Jackson sensation, "Lord of the Rings."