I’m pleased to announce that Stephen Susco, writer of THE GRUDGE, and writer/producer of upcoming films HIGH SCHOOL (June 1st) and THE POSSESSION (Aug 30), has optioned the film and tv rights in Prince of Thorns and the Broken Empire trilogy published by Ace/Berkley in the US and Voyager in the UK.
Great news for Lawrence and fans of The Broken Empire series. I’m always skeptical about announcements like these, because an option being taken on a book series is only the very first, small step in a film or television series being produced, but it’s neat nonetheless. Lawrence’s novel is known for both its nihilistic and brutal world and the dark humour of the protagonist, Jorg, and it will be interesting to see how this transitions to screen, without making audiences squeamish.
If interested, you can read my review of Prince of Thorns from earlier this year.
Skeptical would be about right. My research suggests that about 1% of books get optioned and only about 1% of that 1% get to the screen. Still, it’s very exciting to get a call from Hollywood and have the guy on the other end be someone who has made films you’ve watched. I mean, c’mon, Stephen Susco had Buffy the Fricken Sarah Michelle Gellar Slayer speak his lines :)
Well that’s good new for Mark Lawrence. I wouldn’t have thought of this book as a movie/show because so much of what I loved about it was the narrative voice. However, now that I think of it, the post-apocalyptic/fantasy angle might really work really well as a visual aesthetic.
Has there been anymore information released about an adaptation?
I could see it being very successful, thanks to the genius blend of Sci-fi and fantasy.
Plus with all the hype around Game of thrones, it could even receive a large enough budget to pull it off.