Another prolific fantasy author is expanding their popular series of novels into film and television. According to The Hollywood Reporter, Apple TV has landed the rights to the Cosmere books, the fictional literary universe by fantasy author Brandon Sanderson. Sanderson will be the architect of this universe, and will write, produce, consult, and have final approvals. An unprecedented deal, it offers the writer more creative control than George R.R. Martin and similar popular authors when it comes to their adaptations. The first titles looked at for adaptation are Sanderson’s Mistborn series for film, and The Stormlight Archive series for television.
The Cosmere series of books takes place in many different worlds and time periods. The basic premise centers on Adolnasium, a powerful being whom a group of conspirators kill. Adolnasium’s power is then broken up into 16 different shards, later spread across many worlds, sharing various forms of magic across the universe. The first Mistborn novel, The Final Empire, came out in 2006. Seven subsequent novels have arrived since. His first Stormlight Archive novel, The Way of Kings, arrived in 2010, and since then, four more books in that series have comes out, with the latest arriving in 2024. Sanderson was the writer who finished Robert Jordan’s Wheel of Time series when Jordan passed away.
These expansive fantasy novel series are a hit-or-miss proposition in Hollywood, no matter how many millions the books sell. Robert Jordan’s Wheel of Time is one of the most popular fantasy novel franchises of all time, but the Prime Video series only lasted three seasons, barely covering the scope of the books. For every Hunger Games success story, there’s a Divergent series cautionary tale. But Apple TV has deep pockets. And if the quality is there, they’ve shown they are willing to support a franchise for the long haul. No word yet on when production begins for any of these Cosmere projects, or who the other creatives involved are. We expect to hear more very soon.