(Image Credit: Marc Simonetti)
Game of Thrones is the hottest fantasy property around right now, but it’s not the only one. For example, Lionsgate — the studio behind The Hunger Games movies, Mad Men, La La Land and more — is going all in on Patrick Rothfuss’ The Kingkiller Chronicle, a trilogy of novels of which two have been published: The Name of the Wind in 2007 and The Wise Man’s Fear in 2011. (Fans have been working through a Winds of Winter-like wait for the third and final book.)
And when I say “all in,” I mean it. The studio previously announced that it was developing a movie, TV series and videogame adaptation of the novels, and has taken steps to make sure at least some of that happens. It’s tapped Hamilton creator Lin-Manuel Miranda to serve as a creative producer on both the film and TV series, with an option to participate in a stage show sometime down the line. Miranda is expected to write and compose music for the show — if you’ve read the books, you know the main character spends a lot of time being a musician (and talking about being a musician).
And now, Variety reports that Lionsgate is in talks with Sam Raimi to direct the film adaptation of the story, working from a script by Lindsey Beer, one of several writers who worked on Transformers: The Last Knight (clearly, having a lot of writers on that didn’t help). Raimi has directed everything from cult classics like The Evil Dead to superhero adaptations like Spider-Man 2 to special effects-driven mediocrities like Oz the Great and Powerful. He’s a dynamic director, although you’d figure they’d keep him reigned in for a tentpole project like this.
This raises some questions about Lionsgate’s greater Kingkiller push. Will Miranda work on the movie, too, or just the TV show on Showtime? What about author Patrick Rothfuss, who’s also creatively consulting on everything? Will the movie and show adapt the same story, or will the movies adapt the books while the show forges its own path?
Whatever happens, it looks like Lionsgate is coming for the fantasy phenomenon vacuum that Game of Thrones will leave after it wraps up next year. Could be interesting.
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