Lionsgate has brought on John Rogers, creator of the cult TV hit The Librarians, to write the pilot and serve as executive producer and showrunner of The Kingkiller Chronicle TV series. Rogers will work with author Patrick Rothfuss, franchise creative producer Lin-Manuel Miranda, producer Robert Lawrence, and executive producer Jennifer Court to develop the television arm of Lionsgate’s franchise adaptation of Rothfuss’ fantasy series.
Working with Rogers’ production company Kung Fu Monkey, Lionsgate will create a feature film based on The Name of the Wind, The Wise Man’s Fear, and the forthcoming third installment, The Doors of Stone; while the TV series will expand on the world outside of those books. There is also the option for future stage adaptations.
“With the addition of the incredibly talented John Rogers as showrunner,” said Kevin Beggs, Lionsgate Television Group Chairman, “we have now assembled the perfect creative team to develop a premium quality scripted series to launch our Kingkiller Chronicle franchise.”
Rogers teased the announcement earlier today on Twitter with a photo of a notebook that says “Kingkiller”:
Oh. Yeah. That gets announced today. We’ll this’ll be interesting … pic.twitter.com/mGQ7IaPTzr
— John Rogers (@jonrog1) December 13, 2016
He also clarified that he’ll be able to executive produce Kingkiller while also helming the Magnum, P.I. sequel series he’s developing for ABC:
Since I got the question multiple times — no, since the show lines up with the movies, the timeline is very extended. https://t.co/0pkRoEdYaY
— John Rogers (@jonrog1) December 13, 2016
I’ll have time for a full season of MAGNUM as we’re developing KINGKILLER, if we’re lucky enough to be given a season order on MAGNUM
— John Rogers (@jonrog1) December 13, 2016
And he hinted at some insider knowledge:
People keep asking me “Do you know how it ends?” Of course I know how it ends.
Aaron Burr shoots Kvothe. Jesus, people, read a book.
— John Rogers (@jonrog1) December 13, 2016
Rothfuss also tweeted a response to the news:
Yup. @jonrog1 AND @Lin_Manuel.
Now I just need @joss & @NathanFillion to come onboard and we’ll form Voltron.https://t.co/axvRdbVGra
— Pat Rothfuss (@PatrickRothfuss) December 13, 2016
In the meantime, find out why you should be watching The Librarians.
Finally, some confirmation on what exactly this whole “Movie + TV” thing is about.
I really hope they plan to make more than one movie because fitting it all in one? I mean, maybe it can be done. Maybe?
As far as the tie in shows… eh… I am getting really sick of the whole “extended universe” kick that’s going on these days. But, if it’s good…
I hope they have better writers than they have on The Librarians which I find unwatchable.
Well I keep waiting for the third book to come out before I start the Kingkiller books so the show will be new and interesting to me. John Rogers is the show runner to the Librarians which is fun. I also really enjoyed Leverage he does good light hearted tv shows.
This is great news — I actually stumbled over this while watching LEVERAGE, which is…sadly appropriate for the upcoming Administration.
Now I can start to hope that this is actually gonna happen. (knocks on three types of wood and sacrifices a stuffed toy goat to literature fairies).
To be honest this whole deal is making me a bit queasy. How can those massive books be adapted in one movie?
Plus a whole tv show based on Rothfuss world? That just seems underwhelming to me. Maybe I’m being pessimistic, but I feel like they got that backward. The trilogy with it’s unusual storyline would make a great show.
TV makes me nervous. Outside of premium networks like HBO, Netflix, etc. I worry the production value isn’t going to live up to the quality of the books.
I always have loved the Librarian shows until the one that aired this sunday. It was a great story and the cast is wonderful. I really enjoyed the show till the last 2 minutes when the vampire and librarian girl kissed…..this is suppose to be family television. I was really disappointed because I do love the show but it no longer represents my family values…..guess I will go back watching the hallmark channel.