Filmmaker Charlotte Brandstrom joined the creative team of the spinoff television series of The Lord of the Rings by Amazon Prime Video, the streaming giant announced on Thursday. The Swedish-French director will be directing two episodes.
“I’m very excited to be guided through Middle-earth by JD’s and Patrick’s vision and immerse myself in the iconic world of JRR Tolkien. It’s a great privilege to be in New Zealand to work with Amazon Studios’ outstanding ensemble of creative talents,” Brändström said in a statement, adding, “There are countless things still to see in Middle-earth, and great works to do,” quoting Gimli.
Brandstrom has directed over 30 feature films, mini-series, and movies-of-the-week including episodes of The Man in the High Castle, Outlander, The Witcher and Netflix’s upcoming series Jupiter’s Legacy. She is also an international Emmy Award nominee for the television film Julie, chevalier de Maupin.
She has joined the international cast in New Zealand and will continue on the work of Spanish filmmaker JA Bayona and British Chinese director Wayne Che Yip.
According to a press release, the epic drama is set thousands of years before the events of Tolkien’s The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings. The first book in The Lord of the Rings series was published in 1954. It has been adapted into six films so far, including three films on The Hobbit, with the third film in the LOTR trilogy, The Return of the King, winning 11 Oscars including for Best Picture in 2003.
“Beginning in a time of relative peace, the series follows an ensemble cast of characters, both familiar and new, as they confront the long-feared re-emergence of evil to Middle-earth. From the darkest depths of the Misty Mountains, to the majestic forests of the elf-capital of Lindon, to the breathtaking island kingdom of Númenor, to the furthest reaches of the map, these kingdoms and characters will carve out legacies that live on long after they are gone,” Amazon Prime Video’s synopsis read.
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JD Payne and Patrick McKay will serve as the show-runners as well as executive producers along with Lindsey Weber, Callum Greene, JA Bayona, Belén Atienza, Justin Doble, Jason Cahill, Gennifer Hutchison, Bruce Richmond and Sharon Tal Yguado, co-executive produced by Wayne Che Yip, and producer Christopher Newman.
In April, Independent reported that the project would be the largest television series ever made and will cost Amazon Studios $500 million. Amazon bought the rights to the literary franchise in 2017, the report added.