Amazon’s foray into the Second Age has found a director.
Deadline reports that J.A. Bayona — who took over from Colin Trevorrow for the middle chapter in the current Jurassic trilogy, Fallen Kingdom — has been tapped to helm the first two episodes of Amazon’s big-budget fantasy series, a prequel show set in a Middle-earth centuries before the events of Tolkien’s beloved novels The Hobbit and The Lord of The Rings.
As well as directing, Bayona will executive produce the series alongside Belén Atienza. Here’s the statement Bayona provided about the news to Deadline:
J.R.R. Tolkien created one of the most extraordinary and inspiring stories of all time, and as a lifelong fan it is an honour and a joy to join this amazing team. I can’t wait to take audiences around the world to Middle-earth and have them discover the wonders of the Second Age, with a never before seen story.
[referenced url=”https://gizmodo.com.au/2019/03/amazons-lord-of-the-rings-series-confirms-its-setting-in-the-vaguest-sense-possible/” thumb=”https://i.kinja-img.com/gawker-media/image/upload/t_ku-large/cwq4fjspxg0rronkfcih.png” title=”Amazon’s Lord Of The Rings Series Confirms Its Setting, In The Vaguest Sense Possible” excerpt=”Last week, Amazon started quietly teasing just where its massive Lord of the Rings TV show would take place in the Middle-earth timeline. Now, the speculation has been confirmed: We’re heading back into the Age of Númenor.”]
Details beyond that basic setting and the addition of Bayona to the show’s behind-the-scenes team are still being kept under wraps, but it seems as though production on what Amazon hopes could be the next Game of Thrones (alongside approximately seven billion other things attempting to be the next Game of Thrones) is set to begin very soon.
Rumours began swirling earlier this week that — as Peter Jackson did previously, for his movie adaptations of Tolkien’s work — Amazon will shoot at least some of its Lord of the Rings series in New Zealand, as well as Scotland, with an estimated start date for next month.
Either way, with Bayona’s arrival, perhaps it means we’re about to start learning a whole lot more about this latest foray into Middle-earth.