J.A. Bayona Set to Direct Two Episodes of Amazon's THE LORD OF THE RINGS Series
Director J.A. Bayona (Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom, A Monster Calls, The Orphanage) has signed on to direct two episodes of Amazon’s highly anticipated The Lord of the Rings series. He will also serve as an executive producer on the series. The filmmaker had this to say in a statement:
“J.R.R. Tolkien created one of the most extraordinary and inspiring stories of all time, and as a lifelong fan it is an honor and a joy to join this amazing team. I can’t wait to take audiences around the world back to Middle-earth and have them discover the wonders of the Second Age, with a never-before-seen story.”
Bayona has worked on some great projects in his career and he’s a solid choice to bring on to help develop this Lord of the Rings series and direct a couple of episodes. The series is currently being written by Star Trek 4 writers JD Payne and Patrick McKay.
In addition, Game of Thrones alum Bryan Cogman has signed on as a consultant on the project. The series is said to explore new storylines preceding J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Fellowship of the Ring. We really don’t know what the series will focus on, but an interesting setting has been teased in some maps released to promote the series, hinting that the story for the show could involve the island of Numenor.
For those of you not familiar with Numenor, it was a kingdom of men, established on an island brought up out of the sea by the Valar in the early Second Age after the final ruin of Beleriand, and was where the Númenoreans originated from. It was a “gift to Men. It was also called Elenna or the Isle of Elenna ("Starwards") because the Dúnedain were led to it by the star of Eärendil, and because the island was in the shape of a five-pointed star.”
The men of Numenor lived in peace, and they were forbidden by the Valar “from sailing so far westward that Númenor was no longer visible, for fear that they would come upon the Undying Lands, to which men could not come.”
They ended up resenting Valar and their ban, and the Númenóreans wanted to break free and explore the world and wanted everlasting life. “They tried to compensate this by going eastward and colonizing large parts of Middle-earth, first in a friendly way, but later as tyrants. Soon the Númenóreans came to rule a great but terrorizing maritime empire that had no rival, but a few (the Faithful) remained loyal to the Valar and friendly to the elves.”
They ended up taking over sections of Middle Earth, and with Sauron on the rise, Numenor would meet its tragic downfall down the line, but its survivors would go on to create the kingdoms of Armor and Gondor.
It’ll be cool and interesting to see what this series ends up being, and I’m excited for it. What do you think about it?
Source: Variety