Patrick Rothfuss’ series The Kingkiller Chronicle will get an appropriately epic multimedia adaptation, with both a television series and a feature film exploring different corners of Rothfuss’ universe. While Hamilton‘s Lin-Manuel Miranda is hard at work on Showtime’s prequel series, a recent report from Variety provides an update on the movie side of things: Spider-Man and Evil Dead director Sam Raimi is in talks to direct the feature film adaptation of The Name of the Wind, the first book in the series.
Lionsgate will produce the film, the script for which is currently being written by Lindsey Beer, who served as a writer on Transformers: The Last Knight. Her other upcoming projects include the movie adaptation of Patrick Ness’ Chaos Walking (starring Tom Holland and Daisy Ridley), to be released in 2019, and a forthcoming adaptation of Dungeons & Dragons, projected for 2021.
IMDb lists the movie as The Kingkiller Chronicle, which is the same title that the TV series currently bears. The latter is expected to be a prequel series, judging by the synopsis:
Set in the world of the wildly popular fantasy series by Rothfuss, The Kingkiller Chronicle will follow a pair of wandering performers on their adventures through the unique and startling world of Temerant, immersing audiences in a universe of unexpected heroes, mystical places, and terrifying dark forces. […] The television adaption is a subversive origin story of legendary proportions set a generation before the events of the trilogy’s first novel, The Name of the Wind.
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The Name of the Wind
Whereas Beer’s script is based on Rothfuss’ first novel, in which the notorious magician Kvothe begins narrating the epic saga of how he came to be a household name:
I have stolen princesses back from sleeping barrow kings. I burned down the town of Trebon. I have spent the night with Felurian and left with both my sanity and my life. I was expelled from the University at a younger age than most people are allowed in. I tread paths by moonlight that others fear to speak of during day. I have talked to Gods, loved women, and written songs that make the minstrels weep.
You may have heard of me.
So begins the tale of Kvothe—from his childhood in a troupe of traveling players, to years spent as a near-feral orphan in a crime-riddled city, to his daringly brazen yet successful bid to enter a difficult and dangerous school of magic. In these pages you will come to know Kvothe as a notorious magician, an accomplished thief, a masterful musician, and an infamous assassin. But The Name Of The Wind is so much more—for the story it tells reveals the truth behind Kvothe’s legend.
Known for his early-2000s trilogy adaptation of Spider-Man and the Evil Dead movies, Raimi’s most recent directing credits include an episode of the Starz TV series Ash vs. Evil Dead and 2013’s Oz the Great and Powerful.
No word yet on release date for either the TV series or the movie.
