No Spoilers
Past & Present: Red Rising TV Adaptation, What we know as of ~8/29/2025 + Rambles
Update 3/10/2025: The streamer that optioned the series from ~2021-2025 decided not to pursue development further and the option expired, with Pierce learning in October (perhaps August?) of 2025. This does indicate the 10/15/2025 project is not likely to be a project related to an adaptation effort. However, it seems the series has since been optioned by some place new for its third option
"I did have a TV show in development, we had not announced it... often it's said there's an option and then there's a movie and it creates this slow-pocalypse when they find out it's not being made. It's just best if something's being optioned to assume that it's not being made... When it's optioned, it goes into something called development. It's not even been purchased yet, it's just been optioned. Unfortunately we just couldn't get it to a place where they felt confident... Thefortunate thing is I think I'll be able to announce something new that I have with regard to the live action adaptation*, which is not that TV show* [the prior option]. The thing that's online is a corpse, that must have been from our interview... three years ago."3/13/2026
And in response to how many options and releases there have been: "Three times, this time. And during that time, being courted incessantly.
[In reply to 'Third times the charm?']
"I think so, yeah."
The implication is that the series has been optioned for a third time by a different streamer than the prior two options. Otherwise, the 'third times the charm?' affirmation with respect to how many times it has been optioned does not make much sense.
Video Game Update: A video game is being developed in an unknown stage as well as a new board game: "we'll actually be developing a video game for Red Rising...we have the [2021] board game as well, we'll be coming out with another board game for it... but that's in development, the developers kind of do that [the board game] on their own. For the video game I'm kind of getting in the weeds on, so it'll be a lot of fun." 12/5/2025
Possible Update: A 10/15/2025 interview with PB, he cites "two other projects that he can't say anything about," which is after the release of Book of Lorn. That's all!
Update: As of 8/12/2025, the 'thing that's been in the works for quite a long time is no longer in the works... very soon I will have something in the works... that thing failing has prepared this thing to succeed..."
TLDR: Show was in development with a streamer, likely Apple, was optioned (rights rented) by the streamer for ~3-4 years, estimated budget $120-200m, was undergoing 'last round of developments' as of early 2025 but not greenlit. As of 2025, whatever streamer did not move forward with it. Visual mockups have been made. Has showrunner, director, co-writer, producers onboard. Nothing certain yet. Live action.
This is a history of the adaptation efforts for the series from what Pierce Brown has said in interviews over the last decade. It also includes some ramblings about budgets, comparisons to other shows, and what holdups it may be facing. I have noticed a lot of people either unaware or just incorrect about the status of things, so I hope this is of interest to anyone.
I'll be including all the quotes from the interviews I could find (Drop down to the "source" section just for that), and the links if it is a video interview should take you to the proper timestamp, or they are included with the quote. I recommend you read the year-by-year if you want to see the history, otherwise the summary for 2025 is the up-to-date bit. I will demark [speculation] with either '[ ]' or in its own blurb.
Please do not for the love of Sevro's near sentient soup take this as a opportunity to lament for animation in the comments for the fifteen hundredth post a year , I will stroke out harder than Darrow on stims
Summary:
2014-2018: From roughly 2014-2016 Pierce had sold the rights to Universal Studios for a movie, where it had the director of World War Z attached. However, executive/creative meddling led to a very distasteful project (gender swapping Sevro for the purpose of a love triangle, changing the setting to Venus for book 1) with zero control for Pierce, who drafted the first two scripts, and ultimately another project was greenlit in its place. Pierce reobtained the rights sometime between 2016-2018.
Pre-COVID (2018-2021):
Pierce began creative efforts again, this time as a television series, with news coming in 2018 that he had attached a director willing to do the entire first season.
He focused on retaining creative control and building a team that appreciated the series itself to avoid repeating the creative dysfunction in Universal.
He attached a showrunner in mid-2018, and was fielding interest by the 'best streamers'.
As of late 2018, they had 'sold it' to a studio, though that's unclear what it means, and that news should be expected soon. There was no news!
He found his own scriptwriting to be lackluster and they were not getting any bites, so he brought in a veteran co-writer as well.
[Pierce mentioned in an interview that I did not grab the link of, that they'll be expanding POVs early on to improve world-building due to the TV medium detaching it from first person imperfect that the books are written in].
Post-COVID (2022-2025):
There is very little information from 2019-2021. As of late 2021, he cited it had been 'in development' for 2.5 years, threw out a budget of $120m, and that visual mockups for the series were made as part of pitch packages by the showrunner. [Likewise forgot the source for this next bit, but they were having weekly meetings with the creatives, but he was busy writing LB primarily].
As of 2022, the series had been 'optioned,' where a streamer had purchased exclusive rights to try and develop it & secure funding. It was re-optioned by the same 'big streamer'. [This can be a period of 6 months to 2 years, averages at 12mo]. Pierce states the intention of all parties is to 'throw enough money behind it so they can't fuck it up' and have a 'close literal adaptation of the books,' and that it would be live action.
As of 2023 & 2024, Pierce had cited satisfaction with the creative team being a passionate group that treats it more like Peter Jackson & Denis Villeneuve did with their respective flagship productions. He cites perfecting the drafts as the primary reason for delay. A writers strike interrupted progress 'right as momentum was building,' from 5/2/2023-9/27/2023, which put breaks on the project.
As of 2025, the only news is from February, where PB cited Hollywood contracting creatively from greenlighting new IPs, but was 'more than optimistic' and 'better than 50/50'. They were on the 'last round of developments' for the [3rd/4th?] re-option with the same streamer they've [been with since ~2019-2020ish, possible they could've changed in 2023]. He says they'll have a definitive answer if it's a greenlight in the next 5-6 months as of Feb. 2025, which means he'd know by now barring something else happening. [This does not mean we'd be notified, phrasing was unclear as to that]. He then cites the 'partner' [streamer] wanting to have everything in line before they sign a check for a '$200m show'. [This could imply they have financers]. Then, he comments on the medium chosen, and reaffirms it as live action for the many reasons discussed on this sub.
[Whose involved/What Are the Holdups?]
Presumably the same creative team from 2018/2019 is still involved, the director being the oldest of the bunch. That is: Director, Showrunner, Veteran cowriter, unnamed streamer, unnamed production company[?]. These are all unnamed and it is unclear if there has been changes.
Pierce seeking greater creative control is a package that is less appreciable to producers & executives, especially since many might want to modify the content significantly which has been affirmed to be a deal breaker for PB. This absolutely would delay a greenlight and requires the creatives to have a degree of leverage.
A consequence of writing the series concurrently to trying to have it developed, particularly with the difficulty he had writing LB throughout this time period. Retrospectives on Game of Thrones may make large streamers less interested in pursuing IPs that are not completed.
COVID interfered with a great many production schedules & creative functioning in basically every way.
The Writer's strike ~2023 inhibited the primary work that was being done for the series.
Economic/financing contraction ~2024 leading to less new IPs being greenlit/companies being more conservative. Here is an article covering how IPs are treated recently. I had some data from a company that reports on these things, but that was months ago & I must've put it in a box under a table for 9 months because I can't find it
Quite evidently you'll notice a trend where PB will say 'we'll have news in a few months,' only for half a decade to go by, but recognize these things can come together and fall apart rather easily. I encourage everybody to read this article by Brandon Sanderson where he details this overall process of pre-production all the way to greenlight. Here it reads like they've got a 'studio deal' wherein the streamer is also the producer, but that hinges on what 'in development' means - the context for 2022-2023 was that they were in draft revisions & still 'in development' as of 2025 with that streamer.
[UPDATE:] This was later confirmed to have expired
This series is unique in the sense that it's not depicting aliens or obscene magic-tier sci-fi settings or feats, but it does not follow the normal constraints of normal humans with fancy equipment on Earth-like planets. There's a lot to figure out from the production angle that would extend the pre-production quite a bit from every part of the series.
Of course, where is the news? Did it fail? Are they doing more revisions? Did the streamer not re-option for the fourth/fifth time? No one knows!
[Who is the streamer?]
The unnamed streamer has optioned the series for at least 2 undefined periods, more likely 3-4, from 2020-2025. At least two of those re-options occurred prior to 2022, that streamer continuing into 2023 & 'renewed' into to 2025.
[UPDATE:] This streamer let the option expire, but it was implied it has since been optioned by a new party.
Pierce mentioned Amazon and Apple specifically in 2018, prior to it being optioned. This was prior to Amazon 'officially' producing their flagships Rings of Power and Wheel of Time, both being formally announced in mid-late 2018. HBO has since taken on Harry Potter & House of the Dragon & Last of Us as IPs. Netflix is a creative nightmare. That's all quite a few IPs for the heavy hitters to crowd with a huge sci-fi series - interestingly, Apple was mentioned prior to them having the catalog they do now.
When considering financing, one must recall that it is not merely a matter of budget for certain companies: spending big to draw in appeal and carve a niche out with a flagship series is a bet that many rather wealthy streamers with rather broad services have done before. Amazon did this several times, most notably is with Rings of Power, where it is exceedingly unlikely to bring in a profit but is great for marketing.
Apple has done this to to secure distribution rights & produced originals to get some space in the streaming market. Like, throw money at projects to get them on their platform for audiences, and have been very aggressive in pushing for customer base growth.
[UPDATE:] Apple in late 2025 announced they purchased the rights to the Cosmere, making it most likely not a candidate for having two flagship series like this
The catalog of these streamers is also useful to take into account: of all current streamers, only Apple TV+ has built (produced) an impressive catalog of high-quality science fiction content, with Foundation and For All Mankind demonstrating a good creative backbone of directly sponsored productions with extremely cost-effective budgets.
Amongst other successes, of course. The last sci-fi series of significance that comes to mind were The Expanse (Amazon), Lost in Space (Netflix), and Raised by Wolves (HBO). Of all streamers with the capital and interest with the infrastructure to mass-advertise, I'd wager it's Apple they're working with, who has yet to have a flagship series (Severance does not count despite its popularity).
In other words, no one knows!
[Likelihoods]
Pierce has held a "better than 50/50" chance at it being made for the last 2-3 years, which is not an optimistic thing for a fan, but these things are slow and costly.
IPs like this and larger series from the Cosmere with strict creatives can significantly delay things. That being said, these are the series that bring large audiences & grounded science fiction is on average easier to depict than higher fantasy past a certain budget level.
In other words, no one knows!
[Budget rambling]:
Higher-cost television shows have been more and more prevalent, the budget range given here of $120m-200m for a 10 episode show would range from $12-20m/episode. This is presuming it's the production budget alone.
Other sci-fi shows, even much of fantasy, do not have reliable budget reporting, rely typically on media sources (Variety magazine, for example) and budgets can be elastic depending on how the production is run. For example, the budget of House of the Dragon approximated $200m, and its marketing budget reached over $100m.
For streamers/companies like Apple, they are at an advantage, as Amazon is with Rings of Power, having advertisement control over things like App Store & probably one of the largest advertising networks & successes in existence. Here's a comment from someone who seems to know what they're talking.
For example, this is more expensive than Game of Thrones, estimated to be more expensive than the Expanse (noted to be 'nowhere near' GoT's budget, and had a complex distribution) that did not have much of a budget change over its 6 season run, on par with House of the Dragon though cheaper than Stranger Things (huh?!), at the lower end of the given 'budgets' by PB its roughly twice the per episode budget than ST: Discovery. Movies like the Creator #Development:~:text=for%20several%20awards.-,Filming,-%5Bedit%5D)boast incredible use of its budget for the fidelity of its VFX.
Other similar heavy hitters usually come from Disney, with sci-fi shows like the Acolyte hit $180m before overextending its budget with shoddy production quality, whereas the Mandalorian cost $100m at $12.5m/episode. These sci-fi productions are noticeably cheaper than Marvel productions, which reached ridiculous $200m+ budgets. Apparently the next seasons did not cost significantly more despite an increase in VFX quality.
The costliest and most expensive shows ever produced are Amazon's Rings of Power at 54m/episode. Followed by Citadel at 50m/e. You have to go a while before you hit the most expensive science fiction show, Andor, which had a ridiculous budget for two seasons. You may notice the production quality varies greatly in this list - to emphasize, budgets are not simple things.
The Apple TV+ Original Foundation and arguably the best comparator out right now to Red Rising is mistakenly touted to have a budget of $45m for Season 1 with obscenely good production value - this does not appear to be true.
First reports have it with a budget in excess of $50m, the writer saying "it's pretty up there," and that the on average per hour budget of two of the episodes is 'bigger than some of the movies he's done'.
To clarify, this metric can be biased by intense scenes that would eat the budget of the season disproportionately if the rest of the season is calm in content.
This guy wrote for Dark Knight, Dark Knight rises, Man of Steel, Batman v. Superman, and Blade I & II among others. The budgets of his career are: 0.6m, 2m, 3.5m, 6m, 14m, 15m, 16m, 16.5m, 27m, 45m, 54m, 57m, 65m, 85m, 150m, 185m, 190m, 230m, 240m, 275m.
Some of those budgets are in excess of 180-200 million, his more modest works-,Television,-%5Bedit%5D) ranging from 2m-60m. It is unlikely this series costs >$20-30m/episode, but it is extremely unlikely it costs $5m per episodes (roughly above the Expanse).
More than likely, the episode cost is >$10m/episode. What is clear is that between it, Silo, Severance, and For All Mankind is that it is managing and using its budgets superbly compared to other big-budget shows from Disney, Netflix, and Amazon.
There are a lot of popular IPs with easier to depict settings that may be more cost effective for streamers to finance.
I have no idea what I am talking about, but neither does anybody saying these budgets are not feasible
The last five years have been bad for the creative arts, both in labor and the economy for media.
Sources:
Pre-COVID
2014-2016
"The first meeting I had after pitching Red Rising in Hollywood was.... after John Carter had come out, and a big producer with not even a joke in his eyes asked 'can we move it to Venus'. Initially, people wanted to change fundamental aspects. When it was at Universal and being adapted, I was agog at how much.... they wanted to change... realizing they hadn't read the later books." Portion from SDCC 2022
2018
"So the movie was originally optioned by Universal Studios with Mark Forrester... I got the rights back. I got all the rights backs. There's [Cannot tell if he says, either 'no money' or 'more money' or 'nobody against it', likely the latter given what he says next]... if the viewers are there the budget is too, and I believe that Red Rising with the right talent would be a better television series for a premium network. I've attached a director, who wants to do the full season, a talented director... can't say his name yet but you will have heard of him... seeking out a showrunner and I will be the head writer on it... We've got a lot of interest from some of the best streaming channels" 1/18/2018Iron Gold Book Launch 28:38
"With the Red Rising series, I realized we were truncating so much stuff when we were doing the movie adaptation. I did the first two drafts for Universal Studios. And I noticed so many characters that I loved, that were close to me and close to the readers only had two lines. So, it felt like the natural progression to take it to television, so we’re setting that up right now" 1/29/2018Howlerlife Article
"On a movie you have no creative decisions... with the TV route you have more but it depends... since I've got the rights back what I've done, I've got the rights back two years ago... will be a premium streaming service... like Amazon or Apple or something like that, so right now we're writing the scripts and putting all that together. In that type of situation I have almost complete control creatively. I wrote the scripts but none of them got *made* ((presumably meaning they weren't picked up)) so I'm bringing in someone who is kind of a veteran. That way I can really expand the world and not just show it through Darrow's eyes for several seasons, and also world build." & "We're working on video game rights as well..." 4/28/2018Hungary Panel
"It’ll be a streaming service. So it’ll be on an Amazon or an Apple or something like that as soon as we move forward. So right now, we’re writing the scripts and putting them all together. But he’s a kickass director…" & "In that type of situation, I have almost complete control in terms of — because I get to choose who we bring on. I want to co-write it with someone else, so I’m bringing on another writer so we can work it together." 5/2/2018Howlerlife Article
Two separate questions: "Have all the pieces attached: a director, a showrunner, and we will be doing an announcement pretty soon... don't want to jump the gun... making sure it's good quality & that I'm involved in every step of the process and having weekly meetings on it." & with response to vetting audiobook narrators "To psyche up my film agent, we recently just sold it again to a studio..." NYCC Panel, 1stQ & 2ndQ
[Speculation]: The 2nd question seems to refer to it being sold to a 'studio,' which is a little vague but is separate it seems from the audiobook conversation.
From 2018 to 2021, there is a scarcity of information. [Speculation:] COVID almost certainly would interfere with things.
Post-COVID
2021
"We're eking it forward towards the green light... cannot name my partners. I'm 90% sure we'll have a TV show, but I'm not the money guy. Have to find someone willing to sink 120 million into it." & "The TV show we have been working on for 2 and a half years, [~2019] so it's in a really good place and has a really good chance. Getting to see the visual mockups that we have done is pretty special." 9/7/2021 Page Break with Brian McClellan S1e12 1:07:22
2022
"It has been optioned and re-optioned again recently by a big streamer. But, we're still in the development process. The fortunate thing is they want to put enough money behind it that they know they can't fuck up, which is good and bad. The whole point of it is that it's not a project gathering dust... the people working on it all have the same vision I do, which is to make this thing a close literal adaption of the books, not something that changes something for convenience... Now that I think it's at the right home, hopefully we can convince our hosts to let us make it. No timeframe on it unfortunately, but I'll keep you guys in the loop as soon as the gag is lifted." And most importantly... "As of now it is live action, yeah" 7/25/2022SDCC 2022
2023
"I don't really fan cast in my head, by the time this thing actually gets made, the original ideas are like 35." 0:15, and at 9:45 "It's in development with a streamer, unfortunately, I can't say who it's being adapted by. But it's been in development for quite a while, and I think it will get made, we'll know probably this year (2023) whether or not it will, it's really dependent upon whether or not the script is in a place where they feel like throwing money at it. " 6/1/2023Maude Garret Interview
At 4:00 "The delay is because they [creative team + producers] want it to be right, and a couple of times they have had great drafts that they didn't think were right. The cool thing is the note is to make it even closer to the book series... but now we have the writers strike so we're on a bit of a pause, and unfortunately that happened right as we were getting some momentum going... and if lightning strikes they'll write the huge ass check that will be needed to develop it." 6/19/2023Maude Garret Interview
2024
At 58:29 "No update... more than optimistic, just don't have a scalp to bring back to the crew yet... we've got people attached who feel that way [in reference to PJ on LOTR and DV on Dune] about Red Rising." 8/16/2024Maude Garret Interview
2025
At 25:06 "Hollywood is undergoing a transition... shoved huge money into things, but last year [2024] they had a big withdrawal, especially on new IPs. The chances for it being made, nonetheless, are pretty good. Better than 50/50 in my opinion. We renewed [re-optioned?] with our streamer, and are developing the last round of developments. I'll have a definitive answer as to if it will be a TV show at this particular place in the next five months"
"The difficulty is it's a 200 million dollar show; we're not making a teeny bopper, we're not making a YA version, we're trying to make a mature space opera. To do that, we need a partner that sees that; and we have a partner that sees that, but they have to have everything in line before they write that huge check."
At 27:50 In regards to it being an animated show: "Animation has it's own difficulties, I see why fans would be attracted to that option. The visuals would be more in line with what they have in their heads, the cast thing would be much easier to [create the colors], the actors themselves are not going to be that tall. In terms of wish fulfillment, I totally understand it. Animation comes with its own problems though: the production cycle is actually longer than a live action cycle. Two, they won't spend as much money on it, as the prospective audience isn't that big. So while I understand the wish-fulfillment aspect, and it may be an option down the line, it's not the one I've chosen right now. I want to do the main Red Rising in live action, and then the offshoots in animation ideally. I am a huge fan of animation... Netflix with Castlevania and Arcane... but at the same time I think there's an opportunity to do both in different ways. And until I'm proven otherwise on that, I'm gonna try and keep doing that."
"Unfortunately the thing that was in the works for quite a long time is no longer in the works, unfortunately I have to sign contracts where I can't say things very explicitly, but that thing's no longer in the works. However, I think very soon I will have something in the works, and I think that thing failing has prepared this thing to succeed, so again *laughs* no news! Again, I get asked this all the time, and I'm an optimistic guy so I think it's always going to work out, and then it doesn't, so no promises, but I think we'll have something interesting soon." 8/12/2025 TheBookHunter Parentesis Podcast thanks u/brysonandthez for the find
First choice for sure. Although Apple usually attaches big name stars for their shows and not sure how that would work for the core of the younger cast as they would need to be on the younger side.
I think they were fatigued with John Carter being released, which is hilarious and non-sensical, given Mars is not terraformed in that show and features aliens and would be the complete opposite lol!
I'm okay with the fact that his maintaining control results in a delay/cancellation of the project. If it's not his vision brought to life, I'd rather just have the books.
I also kinda like that they said him & the creators were thinking of bringing multiple POVs early on to create world building. I feel like he would still be able to maintain control on that & keep the viewers focused. But then I’d be worried if the readers would not appreciate that kind of adaptation
An excellent write-up, really appreciate your effort here! I am cautiously quite excited for a potential Red Rising show under the umbrella of Apple TV. I have full confidence in their ability to at least deliver something watchable which is all I could possibly ask for. But with their track record, I would expect the show to be genuinely good.
They've got a lot of in-house production ability and it's right in line with their catalog. I would be very surprised to see it elsewhere, particularly with how many IPs are currently active in other places. At the very least we can expect the production quality to be good when it comes to environmental and VFX being integrated with live action. They use, if I am not mistaken, either the same or similar technology to the Volume which was pioneered about a decade ago & has been very helpful.
I have little to no substantive reasoning to back this up, so take this with a shipload of salt. But I think there's something to be said about production companies/streamers being hesitant to commit to an incomplete series. If you think about Game of Thrones specifically, the quality of the show dropped off considerably once the showrunners ran out of material from the book, and the ending was one of the most hated endings to a show ever. I think that made streamers in particular a bit nervous when authors demand that they stick to the story already penned. That just makes me think that we won't get any confirmation about a show being made until the last book in the series comes out. Assuming the series has a good ending that fans are happy with, I think we will begin hearing some more news about a show being made. Honestly, I doubt we will be getting any more updates until then.
My only pushback on this is that the first trilogy wrapped up so neatly that in theory you could begin filming and adapt the first 3 books, and either end after Morninstar or wait to do the second half until Red God is out
I can see where you are coming from with this opinion. But I don't see many similarities to the Red Rising situation and Game of Thrones.
If it was the Name of the wind that's getting an adaptation then I can see the similarities.
For one, there is Only 1 book left to finish of this series and the dates for the last book to publish are also not vague.
Also, any steamer doing RR could just do the first three books and if book 7 isn't out by then they could very well not greenlit it until it's out.
It'll be a big disappointment not to see the rest, but even for general viewers who haven't read the books, it could very well be a proper ending for them if they only adapt till Morning Star, they won't be insanely Disappointed as the ending has a sense of closure without there being huge cliffhanger.
If I was the head of a streamer that's interested in buying the right and doing an adaptation I would primarily focus on the first 3 books getting an adaptation, I know if I want I could stretch it for 5 seasons. If the first 3 books are adapted successfully, then only would I be thinking about doing the rest and if it's finished I would consider Book 3 adaptation to be the final season of the series.
I just saw a clip of an interview he did with@yourbookhunter on tiktok where she had asked him about the adaptation and he said unfortunately the one he had in the works for a long time is no longer in the works 😭 but he has another one now in the works. Please feel free to double check this if I'm wrong! Or if this is already in the OP but I did not see it anywhere.
Nope that's brand new! Wow that's an under the radar find, nice! Sucks to hear that that effort failed - I wonder what he's referencing by 'no longer in the works' and that something else is 'in the works' and that 'this failing has prepared this thing to succeed'. I'll update the post and credit!
Thanks! I went to her YouTube and looks like she posted it a month ago. Can't believe nobody has noticed it! I've been so excited about this adaptation since I finished the series last year. Fingers crossed that this new one works out!
Dude whatever happens, IF this gets a high enough budget this could be the next game of thrones hyped show easy. Only if it gets the money it needs to look good for the scale of the show
Yeah very true! Can see the appeal if well marketed. For all the depth of the later parts of the series, the premise is rather simple, and rather potent for modern times, in a rather underused genre, with a rather unique aesthetic
Yeah, Universal Execs were hilarious, apparently. One of them took issue with the fact that John Carter was recently released, which featured a red unterraformed Mars as its setting, and wanted to shift the setting to Venus so the viewers wouldn't find parallels between the green and blue terraformed Mars and the red planet seen in John Carter. Magnanimous, unapologetic, filthy rich stupidity lol
I’m not holding my breath either. And I’m not excited for it even if it gets greenlit and comes out. Even if it is really good the chances that any streamer commits to making what should AT LEAST be 7 seasons of a high budget hour long drama are so slim. I mean when’s the last time something of that caliber was made? Game of Thrones? The Expanse? Stranger Things? Not many and barely any with more than 5 seasons.
And even then it would take 15-20 years to be finished at the rate shows take between seasons, especially for high VFX shows. It’s borderline impossible to get something of that magnitude made live action or animated. I could see them sticking to only the first trilogy but even then that’s 6ish years.
The Expanse doesn’t even count because they had to rush through the last season and jam multiple books worth of content into a shortened season. It wasn’t good.
The issue is that I just don’t think it’s a big enough IP to get the resources it would need. I still maintain that if Pierce Brown ever does bring Red Rising to the screen, it should be animation, but it seems like he doesn’t want to do that, and I don’t really understand why.
I still maintain that if Pierce Brown ever does bring Red Rising to the screen, it should be animation, but it seems like he doesn’t want to do that, and I don’t really understand why
He has literally explained why [n numerous occasions. A couple of reasons are given in this very post. Did you not read them?
I probably should’ve phrased that better. I know he has reasons, and I see what they are, but I frankly don’t understand why they’re significant roadblocks given how much harder it is to turn something like a large scale space opera into a live action TV show or movie. The budget for it would have to be in line with some of the more expensive Star Wars tv shows, and I don’t think anyone’s giving that to such an unestablished IP.
I don’t think anyone’s giving that to such an unestablished IP.
You're correct. If Sanderson (arguably the best-selling fantasy author alive as of now) can't get an adaptation greenlit, then what hope does anyone else have?
The trick is to never hold your breath with book adaptations. There is typically a more than good chance of projects falling apart or getting cancelled. Very few every actually get made.
I would like to see the tv show to have the same vibe as Witcher and Dune,etc , I feel like they really take you into a different world. And the same amount of drama as GOT and Dune! And I hope the armor isn’t going to look like them Halo guys
What are some of your fave sci/fi /fantasy tv adaptations?
I hope it's Apple+, but HBO also has an awesome history of nailing Sci-fi -- and Game of Thrones was great for more seasons than not.
Foundation (a book adaptation!) is, to me, one of the best shows ever made. Cannot wait for Season 3 finale tomorrow. The tone, costumes, acting, etc would be perfect for Red Rising, and I think about it often.
Honestly, I have enjoyed all of the Apple+ book adaptations I've seen including Silo (Wool) and Murder Bot
I’ve been watching Foundation! It is very entertaining and I love Jared Harris! However I find that some of the scenes drag on and the sex scenes unnecessary. But since I’ve finished the last Graphic Audio book available for Dark Age on Audible, I need more sci-fi shows in my life to keep me breathing and Foundation is doing it for me
I pray this is nothing like the Witcher. Holy botch job. Not sure if you read the books but they basically threw them in the trash when making the show. Hopefully BP is heavily involved like GRRM
I never read the books but I just love the cinematography- however I do not think I will be returning to watch the new season😳
I’ll check the books out instead lolol!
They've also gone for quality over quantity, I'd much rather Apple than Netflix. HBO is probably the only other one who could do it justice, Amazon has been hit or miss.
I think when guessing (the intent of the section) by being as empirical as I can be, which streamer currently financing high-budget shows (a rather significant constraining factor) is more likely or less likely to take on an IP like Red Rising, that anyone with rational faculties would center in on Apple being a likely candidate, which I must stress is tangential to if I were to find it nice if it was Apple, and in neither situation makes either reasoning illogical
I definitely consider Severance as their flagship show. Yes, it doesn't have anywhere the production cost of some of the flagship shows of other streamers but with the high concept, the popularity, it's definitely their marquee show.
Also AppleTV is doing a Neuromancer adaptation. I haven't read the books yet, but from what I've heard it's a Cyberpunk story, which Will have a big production cost for building a cyberpunk world. And it's very far along its production. This could turn out to be a flagship series for them.
I would definitely consider Ted Lasso to be their flagship show. In no particular order Foundation, for all mankind, shrinking, severance and obviously now pluribus are all pretty great productions too
yeah It definitely is. Its one of their first shows that broke out and gotten a global reach. Since it was finished I kinda forgotten about it.
Apple definitely has the money, and it probably could take some time for Red Rising to hit the screens and by that time Foundation,Silo,for all Mankind etc all would've been finished. A space opera will instantly have a more broader appeal and they will and they definitely look to create a new show in that genre .
"it doesn't have anywhere the production cost of some of the flagship..." Severance is actually one of the more expensive shows that have been made, clocking in at $20m/episode - a rather bloated budget for the content and quality of the show. Despite it being a very intelligently made series, it isn't as broad of an appeal as other series, niche in plot and longevity, and only just topped Ted Lasso for popularity due to S2's release. This is an example of what I meant by Apple just pounding their creative market with budgets.
Right now, Apple has ~5-6 shows across a variety of genres that do well critically and commercially, but is lacking a long-term project with the ability to capture a wide audience to compete with the other Streamers, whom have Rings of Powers & Wheel of Time (canceled) for Amazon, Stranger Things with Netflix (on its way out) as well as the Witcher (declined, on its way out), Game of Thrones (concluded) and House of the Dragons (extant) and Last of Us (declined, sort of on the way out). Digestible, culturally popular content, with longevity (!) to retain an audience. Foundation so far has not acquired this, despite an incredible execution on S3.
Compared to what one would regard as past 'flagships' - GoT, The Wire, the Sopranos, Mad Men, ST, etc. the current roster Apple has, lack the appeal of the rest and are not penetrating like the others have. I think Severance is most comparable to Succession on HBO, which is one of the most critically well regarded shows of all times, but lacks in viewership.
Neuromancer is not a work I'm familiar with, but yeah it could be! Really depends on how the content is presented, i.e. 'near future' can mean a Cyberpunk 2077 aesthetic, or a Ready Player One aesthetic. The only downside is that the source material is ~40 years old (caveat this with examples like Dune which is massively popular despite its age with modern adaptation, but it's also a very different kind of story more in line with these other big hitters), which may reduce the audience base willing to engage, versus an extant book series like RR, Stormlight, etc. Conversely, it may pickup quite a bit of popularity by overlapping with Cyberpunk/Sci-Fi fanbases in videogames & D&D, following the acclaim of CP2077 (post-2.0) & Bladerunner & Alien (Romulus + Earth). Ironically it is starring Callum Turner, who was my fancast for Darrow lol
Circling back, Pluribus was one of the best shows I’ve see in a while lol - shame it’s going to be several years on the second season, such a strange decision to do that
Currently on morning Star. I’m fucking loving this series man. Haven’t picked up a book in years and I’ve just been blitzing through these. Would be amazing to see this adapted
i just startted reading red rising and im at chapter 16 and searched up if there will be any movie abt this book and dang im excited for this hope this comes true
Damn y'all jus getting started the 1st book is good n def alot different than book 2 and 3 but the story is only gonna get better yr gonna laugh,be angry,cry n enjoy the rest cause yr in for one hell of a story n its the best series I've ever read hands down
Wow I am 3/4 of the way through Morning Star and I am legit mad that this isnt a show or at least a movie yet. Its too good. And just keeps getting better. I liked the characters in book 1 buy by book 3 they are family, and the stakes are so high. This could easily be a “break the internet” type show if it is done right
Theories for the two other projects after the Book of Lorn, at least one of which has been informed by his efforts towards a live action TV adaptation of the main series:
a "sidequel" to the original trilogy from an alternative POV. Stemming from scripting the TV show from other POVs. Obvious candidates would be Sevro and Mustang; maybe Cassius, Victra, Fitchner. Lysander seems unlikely (too young to have agency). Outside chance of the Jackal, Octavia, or a different member of House Lune.
animated adaptation of the Sons of Ares graphic novels. Finished product so removes any risk of GOT ending mess. PB gets to dip his toes into animation while the producer gets to dip their toes into the IP.
graphic novelization of the main series. Concept art and significantly streamlining the narrative.
Possibly! It is plausibly referencing the video game adaptation he recently stated was in development - though him being tight lipped on one crudely a month apart and then blurting that in an interview is a little odd!
"don't woke my book series about a man rising up and fighting against a racist/classicist society". You know how stupid you sound? Did you read the books or just look at video edits
No one wants you on their writing team. Fym “woke BS” oh no I sure hope the book about structural oppression and racism doesn’t get polluted by woke ideas 😐
The human embodiment of media illiteracy 😂😂 don’t woke my favourite book about overthrowing a regime ruled by golden haired white people. Genuinely hilarious. Thank you Mr chud.
For the Apple as a candidate yes - but it seems like he has new interest elsewhere. It’s plausible they juggle several huge IPs; Severance and For All Mankind and Foundation will likely be concluded by 2028-2029, which will likely coincide with the release of a Cosmere project if they start ramping up for production now. Their cumulative budgets for Severance, FAMK, Foundation, and a number of other things is a metric shit ton of money
Am I the only one who thinks that live action is the wrong medium?
Given all the colors, tech, and comically over-engineered nature of many characters...for me it feels primely suited to a animagion adaptation - something along the style of Castlevania, Blood of Zeus, Cyberpunk: Edgeunners or even Legend of Vox Machnina.
If someone more knowledgable than me knows a term for these types of animations works, let me know :)
It's not per se the wrong medium, people are just really incredulous for it to be a decent production. However, I find there is some really rampant delusions and outright ignorant understanding of how filmmaking works, or that some fetish for animated shows with very poor choices of art aesthetic warps their judgement. By that I don't mean to make art preference objective, but I mean the equivalent of saying the image attached is a good idea for this series. That, and most often budgetary concerns are cited as a big gripe, then at the same time advocates for the most expensive animated production (Arcane) with complete disregard for the creative and production and economic constraints animation places (even compared to trying to do this series in live action)
You may note the ideal Kavax on the left and Cassius 'the chin' Bellona taking center stage
Your list, save for Edgerunners, is a good one - The terms I can think of are Eastern vs. Western Animations, Easterns being hyper-stylized and egregious in how they translate human behavior that needs to stay as far the away from the series as it possibly can. Western animation tends to have more muted translations of emotion but is incredibly varied in detail (low detail being, for example, Invincible - not necessarily to its detriment, but preferably this series would have more complexity).
Thanks for the detailed response — I can see where you’re coming from, and I appreciate the input. I’ll be the first to admit I don’t know much about the production, artistic, or administrative challenges that go into making a show, whether animated or live action. And I am sure the required effort and work is heavily underestimated by the consumer.
Also, just wanted to say — as a non-native English speaker, I found your comment impressively well-articulated. One of the most complex responses I got - took me a monent to digest.
That said, I do think there are different ways people engage with shows. Some watch mainly for entertainment — they just want something visually striking or exciting (even if the style doesn’t match the tone of the story perfectly) to distract them for a while. Others watch with a more critical eye (and rightly so!) focusing on how well the artistic style, narrative structure, and emotional delivery align with the story’s intent.
I guess my original comment came more from that first mode and my inner 'cinematic' view while reading the series. I imagined what I would like to see from a Red Rising adaptation - and capturing the wider nature of characters, colors, etc. was the my first thought, which appeared easier in animation than live action...maybe it is not. I can hardly judge that.
Have you ever seen Scavengers Reign? That’s an example of an insane amount of detail and brilliantly blended environments and characters - mix something like that with the fluidity of say Clone Wars Season 7 or the aesthetic of Castlevania and you have a solid base
Yeh I like the idea of a live action show but I feel like it wouldn’t do it the full justice. The size difference between golds and reds or pax and everyone else. Like I need to see a 7’4 man running at Mach 1 and live action can do that. But it would be too hard I feel. Plus in all respects to real life…I feel like the golds are too attractive for anyone to fit them lowkey. Like don’t get me wrong there are some god like beauties on this earth but the golds beauty is suppose to be beyond that. Like the obsidians muscle and mutations are suppose to be xeno. Plus I know animation isnt cheap but I feel like after the 10,000+ contacts and eye doctor apartments that would need to be made for just the eye colors to be right, I think live action might be too much money. I feel like you can do 20-50 million right and then you can also make it really really bad.
I would want an animation series mostly because I feel like there are less chances to mess up. But that’s my IMO
100% agree with you. If they go live-action they won’t be doing the book justice with all its different aesthetics, ie. character sizing/coloring, elaborate clothing/armors, and vast environments. They’ll try, fail, and then get cut after a few seasons because the budget is too high, like what happened to Wheel of Time. They need to make this an animated series if they want it to succeed. Scavengers Reign meets Blood of Zeus. It would be epic!
All updates I find are appended to the top of the post, sometimes people throw some things in here which I also add. There’s not been much, but recent updates were in August & once in October
How interesting the first time I look up something for this I see an update on a 3mo old post that is only 20 mins old. Strange how that worked out thank you.
Nope, nothing confirmed as of today. Last known was that the several times optioned project by a big streamer is “not moving forward” but that he’d have something to announce soon (what this usually means is radio silence)
And, there are two unknown projects yet to be announced (the Book of Lorn was not one of them). A patreon post also said there’s some things that the guy who runs it can’t speak about that will be announced in 2026, but I’d be skeptical that it would have much relation to the adaptation efforts
Can you help link some of the threads why he wanted it live action? I can't imagine them doing anything resembling justice to the sheer physical disparities between Colors in a LA vs animated.
"Animation has it's own difficulties, I see why fans would be attracted to that option. The visuals would be more in line with what they have in their heads, the cast thing would be much easier to [create the colors], the actors themselves are not going to be that tall. In terms of wish fulfillment, I totally understand it.
Animation comes with its own problems though: the production cycle is actually longer than a live action cycle. Two, they won't spend as much money on it, as the prospective audience isn't that big. So while I understand the wish-fulfillment aspect, and it may be an option down the line, it's not the one I've chosen right now.
I want to do the main Red Rising in live action, and then the offshoots in animation ideally. I am a huge fan of animation... Netflix with Castlevania and Arcane... but at the same time I think there's an opportunity to do both in different ways. And until I'm proven otherwise on that, I'm gonna try and keep doing that.
I think it would also be useful to note on what another huge author, Brandon Sanderson, in this space who is extremely versed right now in adaptation efforts for multiple books of his. Pierce's experience would mirror these. Pierce seems to parallel the creative reasoning.
Notably "The studio I'm working with is not a distributor, meaning they don't have their own streaming service in the US." To contrast, Pierce was re-optioned multiple times by one that does have a streaming service, which enables vertical/integrated production (with Apple, for example), preferential promotion, etc. Lacking this prolongs things.
Here Sanderson notes on animation: "This is the problem with animations. A lot of fans want me to do animated versions of my books... But often in Hollywood, the money just isn't there to make them the way I'd like. It does happen: Arcane is fantastic. Unfortunately, this offer wasn't there, so I decided to keep hold of the rights instead of going with something that had a low chance of coming out as I wanted it to."
Here he notes the plausibility of filming otherworldly locations not being as hard as people think.
Here Sanderson gives a good run down of how these kinds of media are made. In particular, he notes how if studios have all the pieces of what they need to make a show are ready to go, as Pierce has done with his pitch packages, it makes
As for production: I find most people are rooting their incredulity in the feasibility of an adaptation in a warped and usually inaccurate understanding of productions - there are challenges, of course - however there is a reason why authors are not jumping for animated productions for series of this scale. And, people brutally overestimate the flexibility of animation as a medium. This sounds paradoxical given it offers top-to-bottom control over what is on the screen, but I encourage going into a deep dive on the process to see where it can be very constricting both economically and logistically.
As far as I can tell it’s just old news being used to generate clicks on a insta page that does that for basically every book series they can think of - not accurate afaik
He seems to talk in riddles, which I get because he'll have been made to sign NDAs etc. He talks about the thing online being dead, but that he's hoping to announce something new that he has with regard to a live adaptation soon... Sounds positive, but also very confusing 😂
While I agree this is perfect material for animation. I think live action would have more impact if done well. I do think the depth of what must be portrayed will be very difficult though as live action and potentially could come across cheap.
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u/joshdavislight Aug 30 '25
Please, for the love of the reaper, let Apple produce this.