Upcoming high fantasy/sword and sorcery

[LHWBelt]

With game of thrones being so popular everyone is trying to cash in. Here's what i know is being made:

Game of thrones prequel being made by hbo. It's set wayyy before the current game of thrones just like the lotr series which i think is pretty dope.

Lord of the Rings prequel tv series produced by amazon. No not the hobbit thank god.

Conan the barbarian tv series produced by amazon.

The kingkiller chronicle tv series by starz.

The wheel of time tv series i believe by sony.

The witcher tv series produced by netflix.

A netflix show called cursed which is a king arthur adaption directed by frank miller.

Queen of shadows produced by hulu based on the throne of glass books.

Gormenghast - not sure what network as details seem scarce but the guy behind american godz is attached to it.


Stuff that's probably further off:

The Black Company - Based on a Glen Cook novel. Has been optioned for television but there's not many details.

Dragonriders of Pern - Based on books optioned for film by Warner Brothers. They landed a screenwriter but no updates since 2014.

The Fionavar Tapestry - Optioned for television by Temple Street which is the company that brought together Orphan Black.

Ranger's Apprentice - Optioned for film Dick Cook Studios and a screenplay is being written.

Red Sonja - Optioned for film by Millenium Media. It's in the Conan the Barbarian universe.

The Way of Kings - Based off popular Brandon Sanderson novels optioned for film by DMG entertainment. They have acquired all his books basically so mist born, storm light archive, and more.

Dungeons and Dragons film - Being produced by paramount and scheduled to release in 2021. Live action not cartoon.

His dark materials - this is in the same book trilogy that the golden compass came from but that was a failure and now bbc is going to adapt it for television.

Lies of locke lamora - optioned for television but details has been scarce over the years. From the Gentlemen Bastards novels.

Chronicles of Amber - Being produced for Amazon Prime and has the Walking Dead creator and producer. It's not a straight fantasy like some of these as there's parallel worlds and such. Honestly it was hard to get a real idea of what it was based on a short wikipedia search.

 

[AronaBeatsJones]

They're throwing a bunch of money to replicate "Game of Thrones," but not a single one of these will come close to the success that show achieved.

 

[Headkicktoleg]

They're throwing a bunch of money to replicate "Game of Thrones," but not a single one of these will come close to the success that show achieved.

king killer chronicles are better than GoT

 

[LHWBelt]

They're throwing a bunch of money to replicate "Game of Thrones," but not a single one of these will come close to the success that show achieved.

Probably not but I'd like to see them try, this was my type of fantasy growing up and i actually read the wheel of time but dont see that one translating well.


What i do know is the lord of the rings trilogy are some of my favorite movies ever and game of thrones is one of my favorite shows ever.


Usually you wind up with something horrible like shannara chronicles though which was basically twilight with swords.

 

[AronaBeatsJones]

king killer chronicles are better than GoT

Having a good story isn't enough. "Game of Thrones" became uber-successful due to a combination of story, direction, acting, atmosphere, and innovation. HBO is one of the rare places that has the creative freedom and quality control to achieve that.

No doubt you're going to get a bunch of meddling executives who think they know what made "Thrones" great, and will be contaminating these projects by forcing their own input and superseding the creative talent.

 

[Headkicktoleg]

Having a good story isn't enough. "Game of Thrones" became uber-successful due to a combination of story, direction, acting, and innovation. HBO is one of the rare places that has the creative freedom and quality control to achieve that.

No doubt you're going to get a bunch of meddling executives who think they know what made "Thrones" great, and will be contaminating these projects by forcing their own input and superseding the creative talent.

Good point. I could only imagine a Starz GoT

 

[LHWBelt]

Good point. I could only imagine a Starz GoT

I hear american godz is pretty good tho and i think that's starz. Maybe showtime idk.

 

[Headkicktoleg]

I hear american godz is pretty good tho and i think that's starz. Maybe showtime idk.

TBH Spartacus was the best show I've ever seen and it was a starz show, but it wasn't for the intricate storyline.

 

[VivaRevolution]

Wheel of time will have to be 14 seasons if each book is a season. I don't think you can squeeze 2 books into a 10 episode season.

 

[VivaRevolution]

I hear american godz is pretty good tho and i think that's starz. Maybe showtime idk.

I thought starz did a good job bringing some very strange scenes to life.

 

[LHWBelt]

TBH Spartacus was the best show I've ever seen and it was a starz show, but it wasn't for the intricate storyline.

I enjoyed that until the main character died in real life. It was like gladiator mixed with 300 and some porn. Not a bad show but it was never great to me. I liked rome better if were not adding any fantasy elements here but i think that may have been hbo.

 

[LHWBelt]

I thought starz did a good job bringing some very strange scenes to life.

Im interested in trying it but don't have starz so who knows when ill get around to it.

 

[Headkicktoleg]

I enjoyed that until the main character died in real life. It was like gladiator mixed with 300 and some porn. Not a bad show but it was never great to me. I liked rome better if were not adding any fantasy elements here but i think that may have been hbo.

It was super sad. I honestly think he would have been a legit star. He was great on the show. 2nd guy took like 2 seasons to even get close.

 

[LHWBelt]

It was super sad. I honestly think he would have been a legit star. He was great on the show. 2nd guy took like 2 seasons to even get close.

I dont even remember the other guy being bad he just wasn't the first one. Idk if you watch vikings but when a main character dies (on the show) it ruins it as well. Should have just closed up shop there because that was the draw.

 

[Headkicktoleg]

I dont even remember the other guy being bad he just wasn't the first one. Idk if you watch vikings but when a main character dies (on the show) it ruins it as well. Should have just closed up shop there because that was the draw.

been meaning to watching viking, never got around to it. GIrl is super hot.

 

[Ares Black]

been meaning to watching viking, never got around to it. GIrl is super hot.

Vikings is okay. Worth a watch but a little overrated IMO.
Lagertha is hot as fuck though.

 

[Jumpy]

I wish Rothfuss and GRRM would write their fucking books and not focus on television.
Cock suckers.

Spartacus was great, the first season and season 1.5 with Gannicus. Gannicus was legitimately awesome. The guy that took over as Spartacus was not my favorite actor.

 

[loyalyolayal]

Wheel of time will have to be 14 seasons if each book is a season. I don't think you can squeeze 2 books into a 10 episode season.

You can if you just put Perrin's chapters to a minimum. Or just remove them. Fuck Perrin.

 

[fallable]

Looking forward to Lord of the Rings and Conan the Barbarian. That's like my main shit right there. I always worry when remakes and new versions of my favorite stories are made. Especially in this day and age.

I know Tolkien was a Catholic and to him the Elves represent what God intended for man to be before the fall, so to see diverse Elves or something would be disappointing, because that's not how Tolkien imagined them. Also there are correlations between certain people's of middle earth that are informed by various European mythologies, Christian mythologies, Norse sagas, actual history etc. Rohan has Anglo-Saxon correlations, the shire was based on Tolkiens rural English upbringing, Gondor was informed by the Goths and Langobards, the Dwarves have some elements of British Celtic people's and with distinct Jewish undertones and backstory. Tolkien was trying to develop a mythology for the British people.

In the Thor movies they made Heimdall black which is an interesting take considering Heimdall is called "whitest of the Gods" and "the white Aesir" in the Thrymskvida and the Prose Edda respectively. Also Heimdallr is said to wander amongst the people of Midgard, lay with women until they become pregnant, and his children establish the various classes within society, which would sort of shake up the origins of Northern Europeans. I wonder if DNA evidence would bear that out.

They also made Sif, who in mythology was Thors wife and whose marriage represents the union of the Sky Father and the Earth Mother, probably a metaphor about the union between a pastoral/nomadic people who worshipped a Sky Father and an agricultural/settled people who worshipped an Earth Mother, just some random Goddess. They also made Sif a brunette whereas in Norse tradition she is a blond who's flowing golden hair represents unspoiled flowing fields of golden wheat. I stopped watching the first Thor movie after about 20 minutes and never watched anymore of the Thor series.

I haven't ever read the Conan comics. The original Conan just had a great feel to it. Milius is superb and he did an amazing job with Conan the Barbarian. Conan the Destroyer was pretty lousy, I don't know why they didn't have Milius do it. It will be interesting to see if the show is based more on the comics or the movie. Also, the original soundtrack by Basil Poledouris is my all-time favorite score. It will be tough to top that for sure but I hope they come up with some epic music to go along with the story.



As to the upcoming release of sword and sorcery projects, I'll give mention to four shows I've watched this year that fall more into the historical drama/historical fantasy categories, but do, I think, qualify for all intents and purposes.

Britannia - a show which deals with the Roman invasion of Britain. Recently picked up for season 2.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Britannia_(TV_series)#Production

The Last Kingdom - a show about the conflict between the Anglo-Saxons and Viking Danes. Recently picked up for season 3.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Last_Kingdom_(TV_series)

Olympus - a show about a young man in ancient Greece who finds the key to enter Olympus. Cancelled after one season.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Olympus_(TV_series)

Marco Polo - follows the young Venetian through his experiences in the court of Kublai Khan. Cancelled after 2 seasons and 200 million dollars in losses, ouch.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marco_Polo_(TV_series)

 

[VivaRevolution]

You can if you just put Perrin's chapters to a minimum. Or just remove them. Fuck Perrin.

I guess there was a lot of chapters that followed minor characters, but you have to follow perrin, matt, rand, nynaeve, egwin, Lan, moiraine, and rand's 3 wives (lol).

I wonder how they are going to do rand and having the kinslayer in his head?