KIO: The Rise of a King For four years, cameras followed Kio and his pride through Kenya’s Maasai Mara. Not for a few staged moments. Not for a short production. Four years of waiting, watching and documenting life as it actually happened — following Kio from his earliest days as a cub through the challenges, danger, survival and growth that would shape his journey toward becoming king. That story became LION, a National Geographic production made for a global audience. And the team behind it says a lot about the scale of the story. Jon Favreau, the filmmaker behind Iron Man, The Lion King and The Mandalorian, serves as an executive producer. Alongside him is Mike Gunton, one of the most respected names in natural-history filmmaking, known for landmark productions including Planet Earth II and Dynasties. The series was produced by BBC Studios Natural History Unit — the team that has spent decades turning the natural world into some of the most ambitious and cinematic documentaries ever made. Then there’s the music. Hans Zimmer. The composer behind The Lion King, Interstellar, Inception, Dune and The Dark Knight brings his sound to Kio’s story. There’s something fitting about that. A lion whose life was followed for years across the Maasai Mara, eventually having his story told with the same level of filmmaking, production and music normally associated with some of the biggest stories in cinema. No script could manufacture what happened out there. The cameras simply stayed long enough to capture it. A cub growing up. A pride fighting to survive. A journey shaped by the wild. And eventually, the rise of a king. His name is Kio. $KIO