At long last, Michael Moorcock’s Elric Saga could be coming to TV! Deadline has reported that “exclusive rights to all works” in the series have sold to New Republic Pictures’ Brian Oliver and producer Bradley J. Fischer, who are currently shopping a potential TV series around, with The Walking Dead’s Glen Mazzara and Star Trek: Discovery’s Vaun Wilmott signed on to adapt.
That’s just to begin with. According to Deadline, New Republic and Fischer want to turn Elric into a “cross-platform franchise,” potentially opening the door for Elric films, podcasts, and other storytelling formats (we suggest an interactive VR experience—let us weird Stormbringer!).
“Glen, Vaun, Brian and I all grew up on the iconic works of genre masters like Michael Moorcock, and the Elric Saga is among the most influential titles in the canon of fantasy-horror storytelling,” Fischer said, in a statement to Deadline. “We feel privileged to have been entrusted by Mike and Linda Moorcock with a character and narrative universe as rich and diverse as Elric, and hope to deliver to generations of fans the enthralling experience they’ve been demanding for so many years from these masterworks of genre literature.”
There are no specific plot details yet, but there’s plenty of material to work with across the multiverse introduced in Moorcock’s 11 novels, plus short stories and novellas.
Since you’re on this website, we’re going to assume the Elric novels are at least on your TBR pile, but if not, Moorcock’s description of Elric himself should serve as a worthy introduction:
It is the colour of a bleached skull, his flesh; and the long hair which flows below his shoulders is milk-white. From the tapering, beautiful head stare two slanting eyes, crimson and moody, and from the loose sleeves of his yellow gown emerge two slender hands, also the colour of bone, resting on each arm of a seat which has been carved from a single, massive ruby.
There’s really no way to concisely summarize Moorcock’s iconic albino warrior, but we’ll give it a shot: At the beginning of the series, Elric is the reluctant Sorcerer Emperor of Melniboné, a frail, brilliant scholar on a cocktail of magical drugs tasked with ruling over a court of exquisitely louche degenerates, and the saga traces his descent into the tortured, evil-sword-wielding antihero we know and love.
It’s far too early for a release date, a production schedule, or a cast, but we encourage you to go wild with fan-casts in the comments. In the meantime, check out Tor.com’s great Elric Reread with Karin L. Kross.
