Kings of Wings

Kings of Wings is a 2017 american-british documentary miniseries airing on the National Geographic and National Geographic Wild Channel narrated by Adam Driver. It primarily centers around the largest flying animals in Earth's history: griffinflies of the palaeozoic, the mesozoic azdarchid pterosaurs, the and cenozoic pelagornids and teratorns. Effects are provided by Frameworks and Puppet Heap, while John Powell composed the score.

The series recieved positive reviews from both critics and the paleontological community for its educational content, cinematography, and humour and gavitas of Adam Driver's narration.

Episode One: Six-legged Pioneers
Episode one focuses on the largest insects in history native to the Palaeozoic era. Beginning in the early Devonian period, insects became the first animals ever to achieve flight, and in the swamps of the Carboniferous and Permian evolved the meganisopterans, the largest insects ever. Even after the notorious P-T Extinction, one group known as the titanopterans gained a stronghold as high-level carnivores in their respective ecosystems.
 * Airdate - October 3, 2017
 * Director -
 * Writers -
 * Locations -
 * Scotland, 400,500,000 BCE
 * Nova Scotia,
 * Kansas,
 * Kyrgyzstan, 215

Episode Two: Sky Gods
Episode two focuses on the azdarchid pterosaurs of the Late Cretaceous, the largest creatures that could fly ever. Across the Earth, they occupied a niche of terrestrial carnivores. The largest of them all were Arambourgiania of Africa, Hatzegopteryx of Europe, and Quetzalcoatlus of North America. A male is tracked from its
 * Airdate - October 10, 2017
 * Director - Gareth Edwards
 * Writers -
 * Locations -
 * Tennesee, 81,000,000 BCE
 * Egypt, 69,000,003 BCE
 * Hateg Island, 69,000,000 BCE
 * Texas, 69,000,000 BCE

Episode Three: Feathers Among Fur
The  focuses on the largest flying birds ever, Pelagornis sandersi and the teratorns of the Neogene period. In oligocene North America, the. At the end of the episode, the narrator muses over what sort of animal could become the next large flying animal as a pigeon flies off.
 * Airdate - October 17, 2017
 * Director -
 * Writers -
 * Locations -
 * North Carolina, 25,000,000 BCE
 * Peru, 1,300,000 BCE
 * New Zealand, 1400 CE

Pterosaurs

 * Preondactylus
 * Eudimorphodon
 * Quetzalcoatlus
 * Quetzalcoatlus northropi
 * Quetzalcoatlus sp. (nicknamed Quetzalcoatus grummanii)
 * Geosternbergia
 * Pteranodon
 * Arambourgiania
 * Hatzegopteryx
 * Eurazhdarcho

Dinosaurs

 * Abelisaurid
 * Alamosaurus 
 * Thelescosaurus
 * Gorgosaurus 
 * Dakotaraptor
 * Magyarosaurus
 * Rhabdodon

Birds

 * Icthyornis
 * Telmatornis
 * Halimornis
 * Hesperornis
 * Pelagornis sandersi
 * Argentavis
 * Andalgalornis
 * Haast's Eagle
 * South Island Giant Moa

Reptiles

 * Sharovipteryx 
 * Platecarpus

Mammals

 * Eomysticetus
 * Cetotherium
 * Desmodus draculae
 * Toxodon
 * Thylacosmilus 
 * Human
 * Human

Arthropods

 * Rhyniognatha
 * Palaeocharinus 
 * Meganeura
 * Megatypus
 * Meganeuropsis permiana
 * Arthropleura
 * Prototitan

Fish

 * Rhombodus
 * Squalicorax

Production
Gareth Edwards executive produced the series, as well as act as a director for episode two.

There was going to be an episode dedicated to prehistoric bats, but it was scrapped for.

Originally, the final sequence focused to the Haast's eagle and how it went extinct thanks to maoris' overhunting the moas, its main source of prey, but it was cut as executives wanted a more impressive.

Filming took place in California, Madgascar, and. For the griffinfly and titanopteran sequences, an indoor set at was made, using drones to represent animals. Visual effects were made by Frameworks, utilising both CGI and animatronics, the largest of which was a four-metre high hatzegopteryx nicknamed "Drake".

Score
British composer John Powell composed the score.

Tie-In Media
A companion book written by Mark Witton and Darren Naish was released on