Amazon’s mammoth Lord of the Rings series has unveiled the creative team who will bring J.R.R. Tolkien’s world to life and my god, does it look promising.
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As this is no average series – its rights deal alone cost Amazon $250 million – the streaming service announced its impressive team via a cool as hell video.
Star Trek 4 writers J.D. Payne and Patrick McKay were brought on a year ago as showrunners, reportedly recommended by a bunch of people in the business including J.J. Abrams. Though these two don’t have any previous experience as showrunners, they are surrounded by writing and production veterans.
Gennifer Hutchinson (Better Call Saul, Breaking Bad), Helen Shang (13 Reasons Why, Hannibal), Jason Cahill (Halt and Catch Fire, The Sopranos, ER) Justin Doble (Stranger Things, Fringe), Stephany Folson (Toy Story 4), and Bryan Cogman (y’uge Game of Thrones writer) are all on the writing team with Glenise Mullins as a consultant writer.
J.A. Bayona, whose directing credits include The Impossible, The Orphanage, A Monster Calls, and Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom, will helm episodes 1 and 2.
Belén Atienza, who worked with Bayona on all of those four titles, will serve as an executive producer. Bruce Richmond, known for his work on Game of Thrones, Westworld, and The Leftovers, will also executive produce alongside Gene Kelly of Boardwalk Empire, Westworld, and The Pacific. Lindsey Weber (10 Cloverfield Lane, Star Trek Beyond) is also an executive producer.
Amazon has brought in Ron Ames (The Aviator, The Departed, Star Trek Into Darkness, Avengers: Age of Ultron) as co-producer. Kate Hawley (Crimson Peak, Edge of Tomorrow, and Suicide Squad) is set to design costume and Academy Award winner Ricky Heinrichs will serve as the production designer. He has worked on Sleepy Hollow, Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest, and Star Wars: The Last Jedi.
Fellow Academy Award winner Jason Smith (The Avengers, Super 8, The Revenant) is the series’ visual effects supervisor and Tom Shippey has signed on as the Tolkien Scholar. Shippey is easily one of the most well known scholars on all things Tolkien and has published three novels on the legendary author.
And lastly John Howe, of the original Lord of the Rings film trilogy, will return as the illustrator / concept artist.
Meet our Fellowship. pic.twitter.com/Npouu6ZlRt
— The Lord of the Rings on Prime (@LOTRonPrime) July 27, 2019
The series will be set in Tolkien’s Second Age, which is a fair few number of years before ol’ mate Frodo walked the earth.
Earlier this month, film industry insiders told New Zealand Herald that a “huge” part of the series is set to be produced in New Zealand.
The source, a senior member of the Auckland film industry, said Kumeu Film Studios and Auckland Film Studios have been working on pre-production for more than a year now. They added that American crews are already in on the action as well.
Kumeu Film Studios’ inaugural project was The Meg, starring Jason Statham and Li Bingbing. Auckland Film Studios is behind a number of TV and big screen titles including The Chronicles of Narnia, Whale Rider, and Xena: Warrior Princess.
