LORD OF THE RINGS: THE SECOND AGE confirms full creative line-up

Amazon has revealed the full creative line-up behind its Lord of the Rings prequel series set in the Second Age of Middle-earth's history.

J.D. Payne and Patrick McKay (various unproduced scripts) are the head writers and showrunners on the project.

J.A. Bayona (The Orphanage, A Monster Calls, Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom) is directing the first two episodes and will serve as executive producer alongside his regular collaborator Belen Atienza.

Lindsey Weber (10 Cloverfield Lane), Bruce Richmond (Game of Thrones, Westworld), Gene Kelly (Boardwalk Empire) and former Amazon head of genre programming Sharon Tal Yguado are serving as executive producers on the project.

Gennifer Hutchison (Breaking Bad), Jason Cahill (The Sopranos, Halt and Catch Fire), Helen Shang (Hannibal) and Justin Doble (Stranger Things) are serving as writer-producers.

Bryan Cogman (Game of Thrones) and Stephany Folsom (Toy Story 4) are serving as consulting producers and writers. Ron Ames (The Aviator) is also serving as a producer.

Kate Hawley (Suicide Squad) is serving as main costume designer, with Rich Heinrichs (The Last Jedi) as production designer and Jason Smith (The Revenant) as visual effects supervisor.

Tolkien scholar Tom Shippey is serving as a creative consultant on the project, alongside famed Tolkien artist John Howe as an illustrator and concept artist. Howe also served in this capacity on Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings movie trilogy.

Production of Lord of the Rings: The Second Age (not necessarily the final title) will begin with some preliminary shooting next month in New Zealand, followed by the full production schedule kicking in next Spring. On that basis, the show is unlikely to air before mid-2021.