Stormlight archive Tv/Movie series

[Buggy Onion]

Anime would be an awesome option, but yes. Western Culture sees cartoons as childish. I worry that it would never be noticed and for a ten book series. Lots of funding would be needed and that means a lot of viewers. Maybe the books do have the right amount of humor to seem funny in its own way, but the series is also dark in some ways and not nearly as silly as Avatar.

[Zionite]

 

The Hobbit movies also built off the success of the Lord of the Rings movies, not to mention The Hobbit is significantly better known than Stormlight.  Brandon is pretty well known in the sci-fi/fantasy community but unfortunatetly he just doesn't have the presence in the public awareness that Tolkien does.   Not to mention Stormlight would require a much higher effects budget than The Hobbit.

 

Personally I just don't think Stormlight is suited for a live-action movie, at all.  The effects budget would by outrageously high.  And it would cut out so much of what makes Stormlight awesome that it would be kind of pointless.  Mistborn is the series that should get movies, not Stormlight

 

oh and @GroundPetrol I strongly disagree with your stance on the epicanthic folds, that is not something that should be changed.  Period. 

 

Anyway everybody listen to Inkthinker, he knows what he's talking about.

Yes the Hobbit is based off an extremely popular franchise.Howver that doesnt mean that the only way a high budget movie can be successful is if it is based on a popular property-otherwise avatar would have been a spectaular bomb

A stormlight movie has GREAT potential to be an original hit.Great story,Incredible visauls,new take on Fantasy,Fascinatin mythology all of which justifies its High budgets and will aid it to gain a substantial profit-If its done right of course.

Also disagree Stormlight needs more budget than Hobbit-I once more piont to John carter.Oh and by the way John carter would have cost even less,If it wasnt due to staunton mismanaging funds-bear that in mind.

As to your piont about stuff being cut out to make a live adaptation-Take a look at LOTR. There were changes when adapting to the Big screen but does change-the fact that the Trilogy was EPIC.(despite purist nitpicks).Stuff was cut out,shortened,rearranged but It dint dimnish the quality of the film-in fact Id argue it enhanced it.

Edited March 16, 2014 by Zionite

[AerionBFII he/him]

I don't think modern Tv/Cinema has the capacity to capture the pure awesomeness of this series.

[Carcinios he/him]

Small steps first. I want to see Mistborn made into a film before getting behind any adaptation of the Stormlight Archive. Not that it needs to be done first but I feel like there is plenty of material to use whilst some more books get written in SA

[Mistdork she/her]

I don't think modern Tv/Cinema has the capacity to capture the pure awesomeness of this series.

 

If Lift somehow came and did it, then they could!

 

Seriously though, the Stormlight Archive has less of a chance than Wheel of Time to be made into an actual film/tv adaption (that little project has been in development heck for years) because of the intricacies in shardplate/blade, the wildlife, Highstorms, weird city-scapes, and even things like the presence of Spren (fire-spren, gravity-spren, wind-spren, etc) would make it hard and expensive to produce. It's just plain difficult, and really, if and when someone buys the rights it's a daunting ten book project that has no easy cutoff for five books (maybe, with any luck, book five will have the biggest cliffhanger ever...hehe) and to do something like SA well seems near impossible...

[Zionite]

If Lift somehow came and did it, then they could!

 

Seriously though, the Stormlight Archive has less of a chance than Wheel of Time to be made into an actual film/tv adaption (that little project has been in development heck for years) because of the intricacies in shardplate/blade, the wildlife, Highstorms, weird city-scapes, and even things like the presence of Spren (fire-spren, gravity-spren, wind-spren, etc) would make it hard and expensive to produce. It's just plain difficult, and really, if and when someone buys the rights it's a daunting ten book project that has no easy cutoff for five books (maybe, with any luck, book five will have the biggest cliffhanger ever...hehe) and to do something like SA well seems near impossible...

 

We have already seen fantastical armors and swords on screen-Shardplate/blades are very possible to adapt.

We have already seen that fantastical wildlife on screen-Roshar wildlife are very possible to adapt.

We have aready seen weird storms on screen-Hightstorms are very possible to adapt.

We have already seen spirits and miniature beings on screen-Spren areare very possible to adapt.

 

In short we have already seen fantastical worlds on screen and there is nothing that makes Roshar harder to depict than anyone of them.

 

Also Stormlight is actually 2 series each made of 5 books-Brandons words.So yes 5 books is a good cut off piont. And Im sure if the adapting the 1st series is very successful,Holywood would be eager to adapt the 2nd series-Look at Lotr and the hobbit.

[GroundPetrel]

oh and @GroundPetrol I strongly disagree with your stance on the epicanthic folds, that is not something that should be changed.  Period. 

 

In an animated series? Sure.  Changing that in an animated adaptation would be like making the characters of ATLA Caucasian.  

 

Now, due to irreconcilable physical differences between Rosharan and Earth humans, I think that skipping the epicanthic folds is permissible (but certianly not desireable) in a live-action adaptation only.  And even then, it would have to be an otherwise-perfect adaptation, and I would prefer the use of makeup or CGI to get those folds in.  

 

I think that there are subtle differences between this situation and the infamous Racebending incident.  Most notably: 

 

1. Rosharan humans are very ethnically distinct from Earth humans, making heavy makeup at least absolutely necessary for accurate portrayal.  Compare the Racebending incident, where all portrayed ethnicities in the base material were based on real-world humans, making the change unnecessary.  

 

2. Rosharan culture is mostly alien and not modeled strongly on Earth culture.  Compare the Racebending incident, which left white people approximating very Asian cultures.  

 

3. There are no ethnically clear-cut protagonist and antagonist factions in SA.  The bad guys are varied, as are the good guys, as opposed to the Racebending incident which had essentially an ethnic war that had really racist overtones in the film adaptation due to poor casting.  

 

Just my 2 clearchips.  

[Zionite]

I think Stormlight archive would be best suited for a tv series due to its length and narrative structure.Unfortunately todays Tvshows dont  have enough special effects to do it Justice-Movies can but not tv shows.We might have to wait a couple of years for tv shows effects technology to  advance enough to do it justice.

[Shadow Guardian he/him]

Realistically, I don't think any adaptation could easily do the Stormlight Archive proper justice, for plenty of reasons that people have listed. Not to say it's impossible by any stretch, but I would consider it unlikely in the current landscape of things. Depending on how things progress in the film landscape in the next however many years it is before there is an end in sight to the series, the possibility of an adaptation I think may change, but until such and end is even in sight, I wouldn't even begin to trust Hollywood to not make a butchery of it.

 

If pressed, I think an anime series has the most potential of any cinematic adaptation, probably as a series per book, but I certainly don't have any expectations of it ever actually happening. I think a lot of books/series would have there best cinematic adaptation (if any) as an anime series, but I can't even think of any situations where I've seen that be a thing. 

 

I think a game adaptation of some sort might be the most possible adaptation with some merit, though it would have to focus far more on narrative, and be a lot less gameplay, a recipe which tends to garner mixed reviews in the games market. Something like a visual novel maybe, but those have a very small market, and most other game presentations lack the ability for the required narrative detail for something with the scope of the Stormlight Archive.

 

In short, I don't really like the idea or see any possibility of any SA adaptations happening, except maybe in the distant future, but that's a very big maybe. And any medium, be it film, tv series, anime, game, or something else, would require a LOT of work to even approach being able to properly portray the awesomeness that is The Stormlight Archive.

[Swimmingly he/him]

Plus, Shardblades in a game would mean one hit kills on everyone but Shardbearers to be realistic. OP.

[Zionite]

The only issue with a stormlight adapation is that it requires to be told in a Tv show format with Movie-level specail effects.If special effects evolve to that level-and lets face it THEY WILL-Then theres literally nothing that hinders an adaptation.

Nothing

[Swimmingly he/him]

Sure, it could happen in the future. However, the standards for then will also be that much worse as well. So our excellent CGI will look fake and funny in 20 years.

[Wolven he/him]

Ehhh, as much as I would love to see this wonderful books made into a tv series, because movies would be far to short, at the same time I don't think I want it to actually happen.  They would screw it up somehow, someway.

[Khognilin]

I saw that somebody already mentioned Edward James Olmos for Dalinar. I've pictured him like this through both books from very early on, but in the second book he is especially fitting. That scene were Dalinar got over the table and challenged the changed transcripts of his visions was very Olmos-adama-like. I know he is a bit older, but make up can do miracles. He just has... this "aura" that would make him a perfect Dalinar. Oh, and he already has the blue uniform

 

Robin Wright (from House of Cards) is how I see Jasnah, the descriptions is just a perfect fit.
Younger Christian Bale for Kaladin. Always so dark, gloomy and pissed off at the world.
Natali Portman for Shallan. I think she could perfectly portray the confidence Shallan projects at others, while showing her inner insecurity.
Ian McShane (from The Pillers of the Earth; Justified) for... Sadeas obviously. Needs no comment.
Benedict Cumberbatch for Hoid.
Antony Hopckins as Taravangian

I don't have anyone for the rest as of yet. Some of those I just though of (Taravangian, Hoid, Shallan), but the rest of them are the people that took their form the minute there was some meat to the characters

I don't really care about age difference, they are all fixable and it won't be the first time a characters age was change from a book to a tv adaptation.

And contrary to most people here, I think that SA would make a fantastic tv show - it would be the most beautiful thing TV has seen - just imagine all the spren, the storms, the battles, the appearing and disappearing blades, the stormlight. Oh boy!



 

Edited July 9, 2014 by Khognilin

[Reiyeka she/her]

I was catching up with Penny Dreadful last night and wanted to put out Eva Green for Jasnah. I know she’s pretty pale, especially in the Victorian setting, but she has this severe and intense look to her that I thought was a dead ringer for Jasnah.

On an adaptation, done right it has the potential to be fantastic. There is also a lot of potential for disappointment. I’m going to be optimistic that it could be done right. Though, I will agree that at the place entertainment is right now, an anime probably has the highest chance for success.

[Shaggai]

 

I saw that somebody already mentioned Edward James Olmos for Dalinar. I've pictured him like this through both books from very early on, but in the second book he is especially fitting. That scene were Dalinar got over the table and challenged the changed transcripts of his visions was very Olmos-adama-like. I know he is a bit older, but make up can do miracles. He just has... this "aura" that would make him a perfect Dalinar. Oh, and he already has the blue uniform

 

Robin Wright (from House of Cards) is how I see Jasnah, the descriptions is just a perfect fit.

Younger Christian Bale for Kaladin. Always so dark, gloomy and pissed off at the world.

Natali Portman for Shallan. I think she could perfectly portray the confidence Shallan projects at others, while showing her inner insecurity.

Ian McShane (from The Pillers of the Earth; Justified) for... Sadeas obviously. Needs no comment.

Benedict Cumberbatch for Hoid.

Antony Hopckins as Taravangian

I don't have anyone for the rest as of yet. Some of those I just though of (Taravangian, Hoid, Shallan), but the rest of them are the people that took their form the minute there was some meat to the characters

I don't really care about age difference, they are all fixable and it won't be the first time a characters age was change from a book to a tv adaptation.

And contrary to most people here, I think that SA would make a fantastic tv show - it would be the most beautiful thing TV has seen - just imagine all the spren, the storms, the battles, the appearing and disappearing blades, the stormlight. Oh boy!

 

 

Too many white people as Alethi.

[DSC01 he/him]

You know, I've kinda been leaning towards Ming-Na Wen for Navani, but I would like it if they used unknowns in a hypothetical Stormlight Archive series. Except for Sebarial. He needs to be played by Ray Stevenson.

[The Shadow he/him]

I think it could work. Double the length of the GoT season and they should have enough time to cover everything vital.

 

But I also really like the animation idea, provided it was good animation. I'm thinking original Johnny Quest.

[navybrandt he/him]

Ehhh, as much as I would love to see this wonderful books made into a tv series, because movies would be far to short, at the same time I don't think I want it to actually happen.  They would screw it up somehow, someway.

Just look a Legend of the Seeker.  Great books - below average TV show.

[bschnebs he/him]

Just look a Legend of the Seeker.  Great books - below average TV show.

Some might argue with your "Great books" premise.  I enjoyed Wizard's First Rule, but quickly lost interest in the series after that.

[navybrandt he/him]

Some might argue with your "Great books" premise.  I enjoyed Wizard's First Rule, but quickly lost interest in the series after that.

Fair enough, but (at least to me) the TV show ruined what some call a good story.  I wouldn't want that to happen to SA, as it is my favorite series in the world.  I almost would want to wait until the entire series is written before they attempted anything like a TV show.  Would the whole Cosmere theme be spoiled too?  There's a lot added to the story by having previous knowledge of Cosmere books, which your average viewer wont have.  With all that said, if they did make a SA movie/TV show/anime, they can just take all my money.  Despite my reservations, I'd watch it unless it was horrible.

[Hello]

Morgan Freeman as Kaladin

[Hello]

Meghan Markle as Jasnah

She's a Darkeyes, du-uh.

This time I'm serious, Viva Bianca as Jasnah

[maxal she/her]

image.jpg

Morgan Freeman as Kaladin

 

Well he is kind of several decades too old... Sorry.

[Michael Portz he/him]

Hehe, look at Brandons opinion on books/novellas: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/blog/brandon-sanderson-on-why-we-still-read-books-in-the-internet-era/

 

Kinda looks like he doesn't like the tv/movie adaption idea too much.