National Geographic’s “Lion” series documents rise of real-life lion king
“The Lion King” is a timeless story of a young lion cub who grows up to be king, and, for the first time, National Geographic’s “Lion” series documents the true story in the wild. Disney’s 1994 animated film introduced us to this classic hero’s journey, and, since then, that story has been told multiple times on Broadway, in Disney Parks, on board the Disney Destiny cruise ship, and 2019’s “live action” film directed by Jon Favreau.
Now, Favreau serves as executive producer and has teamed up with Mike Gunton, executive producer for the BBC Studios Natural History Unit, to chronicle the real-life journey of a lion cub’s trajectory to becoming an actual king of the pride.
(National Geographic/Sophie Darlington)
National Geographic’s “Lion” series was filmed over four years and follows a pride with a lion cub named Kio as he grows into a leader. Earlier this year, I traveled with National Geographic Expeditions to some of the filming sites in Kenya for the new series. We were accompanied by series director of photography Sophie Darlington, who has more experience than anyone in filming lions. The award-winning cinematographer has done so for decades. Darlington believes strongly in increasing diversity in wildlife filmmaking and included a number of Kenyan filmmakers on the production team. One of those was director Faith Musembi, who also accompanied us on the trip.
Photo by Dave Parfitt
Sophie Darlington and Faith Musembi both shared stories along the way about how the story for “Lion” evolved over the 52 shoots that encompassed nearly 1400 filming days across the four years. None of the lions were tagged so the crew became experts at identifying up to 50 lions from the different Masai Mara prides, and drew up family trees with the relationships between the individuals. Sophie explained that it was obvious that Kio would become the star of the story, and that she felt this pride of lions was perhaps the most interesting she’s ever spent time with.
Each week when Jon Favreau would check in with the production team, the first question was, “How’s Kio – Is he alive?”
Faith Musembi added that filming in her home country made the story was very personal for her. At times it was also incredibly emotional; not all the lions they followed would make it, and it was difficult for Faith to continue filming at those moments. Most lion cubs don’t live beyond year two, so attempting to follow Kio to adulthood was a huge risk for the production team. However, they were up for the challenge of following an individual lion from cub to king for the first time in nature series’ history.
Photo by Dave Parfitt
With 1,000 hours of footage, the series’ story came into focus. Jon Favreau was fascinated at how this hero’s journey unfolded in real-life, and crafted the series to feel like the audience was sitting around a campfire listening to an elder storyteller relaying the tale. Fans of “The Lion King” films will notice subtle hints and nods in the series from the framing of shots to music cues by Hans Zimmer.
Sophie Darlington mentioned the important relationship between entertaining the audience along with educating. “The most important way to get them to care is to get them involved.” Darlington added, “Hopefully the takeaways are in there, people have to enjoy it otherwise they will never watch.” LION premieres Wednesday, August 19 on National Geographic and streams the next day on Disney+ and Hulu.
(National Geographic)
You can visit the location where Kio’s pride was filmed in the Masai Mara on National Geographic Journeys with G Adventures Kenya safari. After a lifetime of watching National Geographic series, it was a dream come true to travel with the organization. In addition to the Masai Mara National Reserve, where LION was filmed, we visited Lake Nakuru National Park and Lake Naivasha as well.
Each day was filled with incredible wildlife, including cheetahs, endangered rhinos and giraffes, elephants, and hippos bathing right outside our tents. We dined in the bush, witnessed the traditions of the Maasai tribe, learned about conservation efforts from the Kenya Wildlife Service, and discovered a community center empowering families with special needs children. Spending a week with passionate people sharing a love of nature, animals, and learning was a treasured gift of the National Geographic Expeditions and G Adventures Kenya safari, and I cannot wait to relive part of it when I watch National Geographic’s “Lion” with the family.
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