From The Lion King director Jon Favreau and BBC Studios executive producer Mike Gunton comes LION, the extraordinary true story of a lion cub named Kio on his epic journey to become a king. Filmed over four years, this sweeping saga of family, hope and courage follows Kio as he grows from a vulnerable cub into a powerful leader. Along the way, he faces loss, exile and fierce rivals in a fight to survive. Combining cinematic storytelling with groundbreaking natural history filmmaking, this series captures the complete coming-of-age story of a lion — and the remarkable making of a king.
To celebrate one of the most impactful, insightful, and captivating nature documentaries of the year, The Koalition spoke with drone cinematographer Anthony Njuguna to learn more about his role in the creation and research for National Geographic’s LION. He provided further insight into how he was able to capture those intense moments, tracking other species in the surrounding area, using camera lenses, learning lions’ behaviors and patterns, and more.
Four years in the making and filmed in Kenya’s Maasai Mara, LION is the first natural history production to document a lion’s complete journey from vulnerable cub to king. The crew, including local Kenyan filmmakers, logged nearly 1,400 filming days across 52 shoots — the most time ever spent in the field exclusively following a single pride.
It all began with research and studying the lions’ patterns to properly understand their behaviors and movements. The goal was to predict how the lions would interact with the environment around them, which allowed for LION’s key moments as viewers watched Kio’s journey from a vulnerable cub to an adult male lion. “Being able to understand the lions during the four years in the field filming them, I was able to start to pick up on their behavior. I also had the benefit of a very trusted team around me who really knew these animals’ ways better than I do. That advice played a huge role in being able to just pick up those events and understand the when and how and just being prepared. It wasn’t easy, but you got to learn and just adjust.”
Njuguna’s immersive, observational style was due to his DJI Inspire drone, which he used to capture much of the series’ aerial footage, using super-wide, standard, and telephoto lenses. Wide-angle shots established the lions’ environment. Almost blending in with the environment, it resulted in beautiful quiet moments with the pride without disturbing them.
“Each situation will present its own number of decisions and approaches. I have to evaluate all that and then switch tools. I had three different lenses, and then the three senior lions also had their own life.” When mapping out which moments demanded his most attention, he would ask himself, ‘What’s going on? How much time do I need to be in there? Do I need to keep coming back and forth? There were so many different things going on, but I was able to make those decisions. With time and with the experience and how much I was learning out there in the world, I was able to hone in on [those skills].”
“With traditional drone footage cinematography, you tend to realize, ‘That’s a draw,’ and you pick up on it significantly. I think with this project one of the key guidance is at the start where we don’t want to feel it’s a drone; we want it to be a butter-smooth, cinematic something that can live on your coffee table type of shot and just be different. There were very many different levels to manage. There are moments where there’s a drone shot, but it’s not really a drone shot. As long as you don’t feel it’s a drone, that was the stamp of approval.”
Njuguna’s footage doesn’t just show viewers overhead sights but also beautiful sweeping views of Maasai Mara’s landscapes as the lions make their way through the land during periods of droughts, luscious greenery, rich wildlife, and moments of hunger. Guided by fellow cinematographer Sophie Darlington and Kenyan filmmaker Faith Musembi, Njuguna would carefully plan out the docuseries’ quiet and ferocious interactions with other wildlife, including the lions hunting buffalos or filming a scene to show the impact of a missing lion.
“There are just different animals in their space. At any given moment, if I’m filming the lions and the buffalo next to them, you have to be very careful. Funny enough, buffalos are the most spooked out of all animals from a drone, and you would not think that because of how big and how strong they sound and look; that is always a significant thing where you have to be very careful. It depends on what I’m flying, what time of day, and where the wind is blowing. There’s the guidance you’d get from the rest of the team, from Sophie [Darlington], who is also the DP. She could tell me, or even [Lead film driver] Sammy [Munene] could tell me, when and where it was okay to shoot.
“Lions spend 70% of their time sleeping, but anything can still happen at any moment; you have to be there continuously to both anticipate and be prepared. “In those moments the [lions] are definitely not going to do anything; there are also other [species] to pay attention to and not affect the [lions].”
That 30% is what can make or break a shot. In those unpredictable moments, sometimes the realities of filming can interrupt the day as well. “There were many moments where the risk evaluation process just kicked in. Whether the drone wants to die and it’s so far away or you need to come back and get batteries. You may end up walking as close to the car as possible, wherever you are. It’s just understanding what to do at that very moment. I was lucky enough to have the team. I could be filming something, and everyone went out of their way to pay attention to what sound was behind them or to see if there were any animals that were coming up from above that they were not expecting. There was always a back and forth. It was team effort to really pull it off.”
National Geographic’s four-part docuseries Lion premiered in the U.S. on August 19, 2026, with all episodes streaming the next day on Disney+ and Hulu. To Learn more about LION check out our full interview with Njuguna in the video above.
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