Back in 2024, Polygon talked to mega-bestselling fantasy author Brandon Sanderson about why there have never been any movie or television adaptations of his books, in spite of his records — he’s sold more than 50 million books — and Hollywood’s ongoing obsession with epic fantasy. He said he was biding his time, looking for the right moment and the right deal. “I’m not convinced that we have hit stability in the streaming market,” Sanderson said. “Streaming has had a big problem with epic fantasy, and this has me worried. […] Streaming hasn’t figured out epic fantasy yet.” What would it take for him to decide the time was right? “The solid answer is: I don’t know,” he said. “Hopefully I will recognize it when I see it. “
Apparently Sanderson finally found the assurances he was looking for. According to The Hollywood Reporter, Sanderson has signed “an unprecedented” deal” giving Apple TV the rights to adapt his sprawling Cosmere fantasy universe. As THR put it, the contract would give Sanderson significant control over the adaptations, both as a writer and producer, and as a creator with final approval — “That’s a level of involvement that not even J.K. Rowling or George R.R. Martin enjoys.”
Reportedly, the first Sanderson novels headed for development are the Mistborn trilogy, starting with 2006’s The Final Empire, and the Stormlight Archive books, starting with 2010’s The Way of Kings. The Mistborn books are being considered for film adaptation, while the Stormlight Archive books would be developed for television.
“You can’t really do Way of Kings as a film series,” Sanderson told Polygon in 2024. “I am confident that would be a bad idea. I think Mistborn could work as a film series, particularly if we made it in some of the ways I would like to make it, that I’m trying to talk to Hollywood about. I think some things would really work there.”
Sanderson himself frequently posts detailed updates about his work on both on his personal site and his YouTube channel, so we’ll likely be getting a lot more information about his plans as a media mogul soon. In the meantime, it’ll still be years before the first Cosmere adaptations could possibly hit the screen — which means if you aren’t already reading Sanderson’s books, you still have time to start catching up.
