British Chinese director Wayne Che Yip (Hunters, Preacher, Channel 4’s Utopia, AMC’s Into The Badlands, Doctor Who, upcoming The Wheel of Time) is joining the creative team behind Amazon Studios’ The Lord Of The Rings Series. Yip will direct four episodes for the new Amazon Original show which is currently filming in New Zealand, and will also serve as co-executive producer.
Spanish filmmaker J.A. Bayona has directed the first two episodes of the series which began shooting back in February, with a cast that currently lists Cynthia Addai-Robinson, Maxim Baldry, Ian Blackburn, Kip Chapman, Anthony Crum, Maxine Cunliffe, Trystan Gravelle, Sir Lenny Henry, Thusitha Jayasundera, Fabian McCallum, Simon Merrells, Geoff Morrell, Peter Mullan, Lloyd Owen, Augustus Prew, Peter Tait, Alex Tarrant, Leon Wadham, Benjamin Walker, and Sara Zwangobani.
Amazon Studios’ The Lord Of The Rings series is set thousands of years before the events of J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings. 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.
“It is a true honor to be invited into the world of Tolkien by J.D. & Patrick and Amazon Studios. Every day I look forward to working with the incredible team here in New Zealand as we humbly contribute to the legacy of the greatest stories ever told,“ said Yip.
Among the credited and respective and showrunners and executive producers of the series next to Bayona and director/co-exec producer Yip are J.D. Payne & Patrick McKay, Lindsey Weber, Callum Greene, Belén Atienza, Justin Doble, Jason Cahill, Gennifer Hutchison, Bruce Richmond and Sharon Tal Yguado, and co-exec producer Christopher Newman.
