BCDF Pictures is bringing Raymond E. Feist’s epic fantasy series The Riftwar Saga to television. Deadline reports that the production company, which has also optioned Marie Lu’s Legend, is working with Atomic Blonde screenwriter Kurt Johnstad to adapt Magician, the first book in the series, which is itself the first series of Feist’s The Riftwar Cycle.
The Riftwar Saga includes Magician (technically, Magician: Apprentice and Magician: Master), Silverthorn, and A Darkness at Sethanon. When orphan Pug goes to study magic under the magician Kulgan, he finds himself ill at ease with the “normal” forms of wizardry—even as they win him the acclaim of the Kingdom of the Isles and the love of the Princess. But when mysterious invaders open a rip in the fabric of spacetime to wage war on the kingdom, Pug’s magic may be the only thing to change the tide of this age-old war between Order and Chaos.
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Magician: Apprentice
“I’ve been talking to film and TV people about adapting my work since the publication of Magician in 1982,” Feist, who will serve as an executive producer, said in the official announcement. “I have said no repeatedly to deals simply because the ‘fit,’ was wrong. I am delighted to have finally met people with the understanding of the work and vision to match my own in bringing The Riftwar Saga to series television. I look forward to working with the talented crew at BCDF as much as they need and am excited at finally seeing Magician on the screen.”
In addition to the TV series, content company Fiction Riot will create mobile content alongside the TV series starting in early 2019.
Feist concluded the Riftwar Cycle in 2013, but he began a new epic fantasy series, The Firemane Saga, in 2018.
Please, please, less like Shannara Chronicles and more like GOT.
I second the first comment.
A series that started out amazing and then petered out into a mishmash of multidimensional nonsense. But if they stick to the first few books and don’t try to give it the “Twilight” treatment, it could be good.
Having this and WOT both on TV at the same time would be great!
@1 For “more like GOT” the ideal choice would be The Empire Trilogy.
Better “Shannara Chronicles” than “Legend of the Seeker”, but in agreement with Commenters #1 and #2. Shannara Chronicles was tolerable as a teen-angst and barely pubescent titillation alternate universe version of some echo of the actual Shannara books – but not more than that. Legend of the Seeker is as low as you can get without having to pay to be played on TV, like the Red Eagle treatment of Wheel of Time they did solely to maintain the rights.
Have any sources indicated what Channel/Network this is intended to land on? The story is too soft for HBO – as #5 said, Empire would be a better choice. Maybe Sci FI, Netflix, or ???.
Can it be technically Apprentice and Master, when it was one glorious book for the longest time and then expanded to double awesome?
Also, not like Shanara, I couldn’t get past the first episode. That said, it can’t be like GoT either. The tone is completely different .
I read it in the early eighties as Magican: Apprentice followed by Magician: Master in a separate works. I don’t think publishers allowed the combined omnibus edition until it proved a success, but I could be wrong.
Anyway, I second other poster in hoping it is not a ‘CW’ teen-angst schlock fest. I also hope they do not try the gratuitous and titillating GOT route either. I guess we’ll have to wait and see if it ever gets green lit for airing.
Please do Magician and Empire at the same time! I’d like to see both sides of the war, and the character of Mara of the Acoma come to life in the small screen.
As far as I recall, it was initially published as one huge paperback edition here in the UK in 1984 which was when I got it. I remember being surprised when it was split into two chunks, but then they did the same to Tad Williams’ To Green Angel Tower which was similarly huge.
I guess Lord of the Rings started that particular thing except it went the other way: we had to wait ages to get the unified edition ;-)
It doesn’t matter in which format the books came out. What matters is that they are amazing works of fantasy! I agree that it would be very cool to show both sides of the war at once; maybe wait to establish a good picture of what Midkemia is and pug and Tomas’s friendship before introducing the story on the Tsurani side of things.
With the Author serving as producer it should be very entertaining and won’t be butchered. Let’s hope
Yes!!! Definitely one of my favorite fantasy novels. The first 4 novels (Magician thru Darkness at Sethanon) were amazing and would provide great content for the screen. So stoked!
Awesome!!! I am so looking forward to seeing this on the screen. I agree with Ryamano that I would love to see Empire at the same time!! But Magician through to Darkness at Sethanon (JT) would be ABSOLUTELY AMAZING!!!!
This would be amazing. I think this is really a mass market story. However I believe for the moment it’s been cancelled. Better to do it right and wait than to rush it now. At some point it needs to be done. Agreed that Empire should be done as well. I think maybe right after? Hmm…not sure have to think on how they could do that concurrently. :-)