Dominic Monaghan, best known for portraying Merry the hobbit in “The Lord of the Rings” and Charlie Pace on the ABC supernatural drama “Lost,” has signed on to star in AMC’s sci-fi thriller series “Moonhaven,” written and executive produced by AMC dramedy “Lodge 49’s” showrunner Peter Ocko.
Per the logline, “Moonhaven” is focused on a utopian colony on the Moon that may hold the keys to preserving life on Earth, which has become increasingly perilous. The series follows Bella Sway, a lunar cargo pilot and smuggler 100 years in the future who finds herself accused of a crime and marooned on Moonhaven— set on a 500-square-mile Garden of Eden built on the Moon to find solutions to the problems that will soon end civilization on Mother Earth. A skeptic in Paradise, Bella is sucked into a conspiracy to gain control of the artificial intelligence responsible for Moonhaven’s miracles and teams with a local detective to stop the forces that want to destroy Earth’s last hope before they are destroyed themselves.
Monaghan will appear as lunar detective Paul Sarno, who is tasked with solving Earth’s problems. Along with his “LOTR” and “Lost” credits, Monaghan played Chris Bradley in “X-Men Origins: Wolverine,” Beaumont Kin in “Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker,” and hosted “Wild Things with Dominic Monaghan” for BBC America and Channel 5 from 2012 to 2016.
Ocko will also serve as the series showrunner. Deb Spera will executive produce as well. AMC Studios will produce the series, with Ocko currently under an overall deal there. “Lodge 49,” which was canceled after only two seasons, holds a 93% critics reception score on review aggregator site Rotten Tomatoes, as well as an 88% audience approval score.
“Moonhaven” is expected to debut sometime next year.