Could this happen for WoT?

[Light Warrior]

GRRM's A Song of Ice and Fire series has been optioned by HBO for a dramatic TV series. They're planning to take each book and make a full 12 episodes (1 season) from it, so it'll be a multi-year show, like a Sopranos or some such.

 

This is amazing news to me. Aside from being a huge fan of that series as well as WoT, I think this could set a precedent for future adaptations, maybe even for WoT one day. I really hope HBO does go through with this and that it pulls it off.

[Guest cwestervelt]

A Song of Ice and Fire being optioned just means that, should anyone ever make any form of movie, it will be HBO. It doesn't mean HBO has any intention of actually doing so.

 

For all its worth, Wheel of Time has been optioned for about 3 years already.

[Light Warrior]

Oh, I didn't know. Who optioned WoT? And was it for a series like this or a single film or film series like Harry Potter or something?

[loki redfern]

i think it was red eagle or something like that who bought the film rights, but cw is right that was a loooong time ago

[Guest cwestervelt]

It is Red Eagle and they have never given up their rights. The New Spring comics books (which I have not seen) are the only thing I know to have resulted from it so far.

[Kadere]

ASoIaF was optioned as a possible television series were they will take each book in the seven book series and turn it into a season of episodes.

 

The only reason this probably couldn't happen for WoT is that WoT is 12 books long. A 12 season show really doesn't exist, unless you're Law & Order, some show where you can replace cast members over and over and over again without any one caring.

 

So while it's a techincal possbility, you have to think of the restraints. 12 seasons to tell a story that covers about 3 years, just seems rather far fetched to me.

 

And yeah, it was Red Eagle Entertainment who owns the rights. They basically ended up dropping the New Spring comics, and now Dabel Bros seems to be the only thing keeping those comics a float.

[ltkettch17]

Hmm, HBO would be a pretty good option for ASOFAI. Some friends and I were talking the other day, and we figured that anime would be the only way to capture all the extremism of ASOFAI. But I suppose HBO could do a pretty damn good job of it as well.

 

Maybe anime is the only way for WOT to go. That way you just have to sign up people to do voices for 12 seasons. As long as the animation stays consistant, you should be able to capture a lot of the series without too much of an issue.

 

TV and Film have only just recently been able to do a good job with LOTR. I feel that WOT is a much deeper and richer universe and it may take some time before live-action is possible to take the story from the books.

[Just another pawn]

What about doing WOT as a 3 season spot? If you go a full season that's 24(ish) episodes, each book could take as little as 6 shows... well maybe not... but it may only take 4 or 5 seasons which would be much more reasonable than 12.

[Light Warrior]

yeah, a few WoT books don't have enough going on in them to warrant taking a whole season, frankly.

[Kadere]

doing 6 episodes for each book wouldn't work. The first 6 or 7 books all deserve their own season, otherwise you're cutting out way too much.

 

Books 8, 9, and 10 could all be slimbed down to about a season and a half, but you're still looking at 10 or 11 seasons worth of shows.

[RobertAlexWillis]

The current plan (which is still in its barely fertilized egg stages) for ASoIaF is to have each book be shown as a 12 episode season. Therefore, 7 books, 7 seasons.

 

As Jordan's books are of comparable length and complexity, that would make the main string series a 12 season undertaking, at 12 episodes per season.

 

I doubt that Red Eagle has the budget to create something with the production values to make it worth watching. Making something like this right will be expensive. I doubt they will try. If sufficient interest is generated (which may be the case if HBO pulls off ASoIaF) then Red Eagle will likely sell the rights.

 

edit: spacing

[loki redfern]

to peter jackson :D