Oscar-Winning Lord of the Rings Producer Barrie M. Osborne Returns With Fantasy Epic 'Wars of the Drakons'

Oscar-winning producer Barrie M. Osborne — one of only three producers credited across the entire original Lord of the Rings trilogy — is backing a new large-scale fantasy film, Wars of the Drakons: The Seer's Prophecy, conceived as the launch of a franchise (Deadline, 28 August 2026).

The project marks Osborne's first producing credit in more than a decade. Now 82, he was most recently an executive producer on Francis Ford Coppola's Megalopolis, a reunion roughly fifty years after the two first worked together on Apocalypse Now. Before moving into producing, the New Zealand-based Osborne served as a production manager on the Bond film Octopussy, the television series Kojak, and Apocalypse Now itself.

Osborne will produce alongside Jeanette B. Milio and Jim Milio of Alliance Cinema. That company most recently helped finance David Mamet's Speed The Plow, starring Anthony Mackie. The original story for Wars of the Drakons has been in development for more than six months and is written and produced by newcomer Carla Romero.

The film is set in Aerion, a war-torn world where kingdoms battle for power with the aid of Drakons — dragon-like creatures with supernatural abilities. The story follows warrior and Drakon master Kale D'Sar, whose loyalty to a ruthless king shatters when a Seer reveals a prophecy: the king's daughter, Princess Kahrie, is destined to become a great warrior and unite the divided kingdoms of Aerion.

Osborne's producer credits stretch well beyond Middle-earth. He produced John Woo's Face/Off and executive-produced The Matrix, Baz Luhrmann's The Great Gatsby, The Meg, and Disney's live-action Mulan. That catalogue spans fantasy, action, and literary adaptation — a range that positions Wars of the Drakons as a return to the sweeping, world-building territory where his name carries the most weight.

For a fantasy project, that lineage matters. Franchise launches live or die on the credibility of the people building the world, and Osborne's track record on The Lord of the Rings — three films, billions in global gross, a Best Picture Oscar — is about as strong a calling card as the genre offers. Whether Wars of the Drakons finds its audience will depend on financing, casting, and a release strategy that has not yet been announced. What is clear is that the machinery is turning: a story, a producer, and a producing team are in place, and development is underway.