Showrunner and director John Marks recalls the first time he set foot in Epic Universe. It was late October 2024, six months before the theme park opened to the public. “It was bewitching,” he says. That very feeling is what he wanted to capture for viewers when he was pitched to shoot Peacock’s three-part series, “Epic Ride: The Story of Universal’s Theme Parks.” The series follows the theme park’s construction during those six months leading up to its opening day on May 22, 2025.
Marks knew he didn’t want to make a commercial. The theme park, which opened last May, marked the first major theme park debut in the U.S. in almost 25 years (Universal’s Islands of Adventure opened in 1999). Public excitement ran high, but behind the scenes, those six months were filled with challenges as everyone raced to meet the opening day deadline. “It was a ticking clock, and that clock was ticking loudly at the end of 2024,” Marks recalls.
The series kicks off with “The Build,” diving into the history of Universal Studios’ theme parks. Subsequent episodes focus on the park’s construction, weaving in its history and how Universal Pictures films tie into the attractions. Among the key talking heads are Vin Diesel, Bryce Dallas Howard, Universal’s chairwoman Donna Langley, and Steven Spielberg. For Marks, it was about finding the right voices to fit the “accordion” of storytelling. Diesel, whose “Fast & Furious” franchise is Universal’s biggest, was an obvious choice. Spielberg, a longtime Universal collaborator, was a no-brainer. Marks explains, “Spielberg crosses over from film into the parks. He’s been a partner going back to the 1970s with the first ‘Jaws’ ride.”
