Amazon Studios, Steve McQueen deal greenlights sci-fi series ‘Last Days'

Amazon Studios has struck an overall deal with Steve McQueen that has moved the British Oscar winner’s TV thriller Last Days forward into development.

The deal was one of several announcements by the streaming platform at the TCA tour in Los Angeles on Tuesday (January 14) that include deals with Gael García Bernal and Diego Luna, and Brad Pitt’s Plan B Entertainment, as well as the unveiling of a largely British cast on its The Lord Of The Rings TV series.

McQueen will create and produce content exclusively for Amazon Prime Video. Last Days from Lammas Park and See-Saw Films takes place against the backdrop of a dying Earth and the rise of AI as the world’s governments hatch a plan to selectively colonise Mars.

McQueen’s upcoming drama Small Axe starring John Boyega and Letitia Wright, a Turbine Studios and Lammas Park production for BBC One that Amazon is co-producing, will premiere on Prime Video in the US later in 2020.

In a first-look deal, Bernal and Luna will create and produce content to run on Prime Video. They currently serve as executive producers on the upcoming limited series Untitled Cortés And Moctezuma Project for Amazon Studios and Amblin Television.

The producing partners recently announced their new Mexico-based production company La Corriente del Golfo, and the deal appears to be a platform to explore Latin American stories by regional talent.

Amazon Studios also announced on Tuesday the first group of series regulars set to star in the Amazon Original series of original stories inspired by J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Lord Of The Rings novels: Robert Aramayo, Owain Arthur, Nazanin Boniadi, Tom Budge, Morfydd Clark, Ismael Cruz Córdova, Ema Horvath, Markella Kavenagh, Joseph Mawle, Tyroe Muhafidin, Sophia Nomvete, Megan Richards, Dylan Smith, Charlie Vickers, and Daniel Weyman.

Production is scheduled to begin in February and J.A. Bayona directs the first two episodes and serves as an executive producer.

Finally, Amazon Studios has struck an overall exclusive deal for TV with Plan B Entertainment for series on Prime Video. This is the latter’s first deal devoted to TV production, and the company is in production with Barry Jenkins on the upcoming Amazon Original series The Underground Railroad.

It is also developing with Amazon Studios and Legendary Television the Amazon Original graphic novel series adaptation Paper Girls.