All-female directors to helm Rings of Power

Louise Hooper, whose credits include Netflix’s The Witcher and ITV’s Cheat, is among the all-female line-up of directors to oversee the second series of Lord of the Rings: Rings of Power.

Hooper will work alongside Charlotte Brändström and Sanaa Hamri on the second run of Amazon’s Prime Video fantasy, with the trio each directing multiple episodes.

Hooper will direct two episodes, as will Hamri, who has previously worked on Amazon Prime Video’s The Wheel of Time as part of an overall deal with Amazon Studios. She also has directing credits on Channel 4’s Shameless, and US series including Glee and Desperate Housewives.

Brändström, who helmed two episodes of the first series (Udûn and The Eye), also has an Amazon Studios deal and will direct four episodes, while serving as co-exec producer. She graduated from the American Film Institute and has credits including Netflix’s The Witcher and Amazon Prime’s The Man in the High Castle.

The multi-million-dollar prequel to the Lord of the Rings became the streaming service’s most-watched premiere ever, with 25m viewers on its opening day and is currently in production for its second series in the UK.

The second and third series of Lord of The Rings: Rings of Power are being produced by showrunners and exec producers J.D. Payne and Patrick McKay. The duo are joined by exec producers Lindsey Weber, Callum Greene, Justin Doble, Jason Cahill and Gennifer Hutchison, alongside Brändström.