A new TV series, produced by BBC Studios Natural History Unit for National Geographic, takes us to the plains of the Maasai Mara to follow an extraordinary lion cub.
Lion chronicles four years in the life of Kio, a lion in Kenya’s Maasai Mara, as he grows from a tiny cub to a powerful king.
- Can a person outrun a lion? Just how fast is the King of Beasts?
- “That’s never going to heal.” A lion suffers a broken leg in Botswana. Will he be able to survive?
The crew, which included local filmmakers, spent nearly 1,400 days filming across 52 shoots – with the production team saying that this is the most time ever spent in the field exclusively following a single pride.
“After tracking the lions in the field for four years, the pride never ceased to surprise us – what Kio endures and eventually becomes is extraordinary,” says one of the series’ executive producers, Jon Favreau.
“Watching the hero’s journey against the backdrop of nature was incredible to witness.”
It was the first time that lions were filmed with drones in this particular location, allowing the filmmakers to capture everyday life within the pride. The filming crew were aided by specialist, local field guides to track the lions – although occasionally, they awoke to find a lion sleeping on a tent porch in their fenceless camp.
The series echoes the themes of the animated Disney film The Lion King, with Favreau (who directed the 2019 remake) flexing his storytelling skills in this cinematic, emotionally-charged epic rooted in real-life drama.
Lion airs in the US on National Geographic on 19 August and is internationally available on Disney+ and Hulu on 20 August.
Top image: lion cub Kio from Lion. Credit: National Geographic/SophieDarlington
