‘Lord of the Rings’: Amazon TV Show Confirms Writing Staff and Creative Team

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The upcoming Amazon Prime Video adaptation of “Lord of the Rings” might be the most ambitious impending project in all of TV. While there are many details left to uncover about this new addition to the iconic fantasy saga, the team bringing it to life is a lot clearer now.

The writing team behind “Lord of the Rings” now includes Jason Cahill, Justin Doble, and Helen Shang. “Toy Story 4” writer Stephany Folsom will also serve as a consulting producer, with Lindsey Weber, Gene Kelly, Bruce Richmond, and Sharon Tal Yguado also on board as executive producers. With writing consultant Glenise Mullins, the team will tackle a new chapter in adapting J.R.R. Tolkien’s classic Middle Earth source material.

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The announcement comes via a video from the series’ official Twitter account, which shares photos and relevant credits from a number of the newly announced team members:

“Star Trek” writers JD Payne and Patrick McKay were previously announced as developing the project for Amazon, with reports indicating that “Game of Thrones” vet Bryan Cogman and Gennifer Hutchison, who previously wrote on “Breaking Bad” and “Better Call Saul,” would also be part of the staff in various capacities.

Kate Hawley will serve as the series’ costume designer, alongside production designer Rick Heinrichs, and visual effects supervisor Jason Smith. The show also boasts a Tolkien scholar in Tom Shippey and concept artist John Howe, who worked on the Peter Jackson-directed film trilogy.

Amazon Studios head Jennifer Salke spoke to reporters at the Television Critics Association press tour about the new additions to the team.

“JD Payne and Patrick McKay have assembled a best-in-class team that have been working for months breaking the first season of this global series. The scripts have been outstanding and a global casting search is well under way,” Salke said.

Saturday’s announcements come weeks after reports that the series had found its first regular cast member in Markella Kavenagh, who is set to play an as-yet-unspecified role. J.A. Bayona — coming off “Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom” — is set to direct the opening two episodes of the series, which still does not have a targeted release date as of yet.

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