13 Fantasy Adaptations You Need to Know About

Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey set the box office on fire this year, but movie studios and streamers have long been aware that audiences have become increasingly eager to see their favorite fantasy stories adapted to screens big and small. With that in mind, here are 13 of the many announced fantasy adaptations that are on the way, including some arriving in the next few months. 1. The Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping Francis Lawrence returns to direct his fifth Hunger Games movie, this time another prequel to follow 2023’s The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes. We’ll get to see the teen years of Haymitch Abernathy, a mentor character in Suzanne Collins’ main Hunger Games books who was played by Woody Harrelson in the earlier films. Here, he’ll be played by Joseph Zada alongside Mckenna Grace as a fellow tribute from District 12. The Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping opens in theaters November 20. So far, Collins hasn’t announced another Hunger Games novel, though she hasn’t exactly said she’s done writing them, either. 2. Fourth Wing The Prime Video adaptation of Rebecca Yarros’ best-selling fantasy adventure about a girl forced to enter a school for dragon riders—and the brooding fellow student she meets there—recently took a big step forward by announcing its leads. In casting confirmed earlier this week, Esther McGregor will be Violet Sorrengail, and Emilio Sakraya will be Xaden Riorson, now in the running to be your next favorite enemies-to-lovers duo. Or maybe your current favorite, if you’re up on Yarros’ Empyrean series, which has three books so far with more on the way. Meredith Averill, who worked on Netflix’s Locke & Key and Wednesday and wrote the “Bent-Neck Lady” episode of The Haunting of Hill House, will executive produce the show. 3. The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power Prime Video’s lavish J.R.R. Tolkien adaptation returns November 11 for its third season, which will see Middle-earth consumed by war and Sauron finally figuring out how to craft that tricky One Ring. A fourth season has not yet been officially greenlit but is said to already be in preproduction, with a fifth and final season also understood to be part of its future plans. 4. The Lord of the Rings: The Hunt for Gollum Middle-earth will also be returning to the big screen on December 17, 2027, with director and star Andy Serkis reuniting with cast members from the much-loved Peter Jackson movies, including Ian McKellan as Gandalf and Elijah Wood as Frodo Baggins. Elsewhere in Tolkien-land, the Stephen Colbert-scripted Lord of the Rings: Shadow of the Past is also currently in development, though it has reportedly been put on pause in light of the merger between Paramount and Warner Bros. 5. Narnia: The Magician’s Nephew Greta Gerwig’s follow-up to her billion-dollar Barbie is this high-profile C.S. Lewis adaptation starring Daniel Craig, Carey Mulligan, and Meryl Streep. It’s slated for a theatrical release, including IMAX, starting February 2, 2027, marking new territory for a Netflix film. It will then hit the streamer on April 2, 2027. 6. Game of Thrones: Aegon’s Conquest Westeros will make its big-screen debut at last in this prequel film charting the first Targaryen to rule the realm. Owen Harris, who’s helmed episodes of HBO’s A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms, will direct, and Andor’s Beau Willimon is penning the script. So far there are no casting details, but there is a release date in the books: June 1, 2029. And speaking of A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms, a second season will premiere in early 2027 on HBO. And on the subject of Targaryens, the fourth and final season of House of the Dragon will drop in 2028. 7. Children of Blood and Bone Author Tomi Adeyemi has publicly distanced herself from this long-in-the-making adaptation of her YA romantasy novel, but the trailer for Gina Prince-Bythewood’s film looks equal parts gorgeous and epic. It also has an impressive cast, with Thuso Mbedu (The Woman King) leading an ensemble that includes Damson Idris, Amandla Stenberg, Tosin Cole, Cynthia Erivo, Lashana Lynch, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Regina King, Idris Elba, and Viola Davis. It opens January 15, 2027. 8. Dungeon Crawler Carl Matt Dinniman’s LitRPG sensation is getting a live-action series at Peacock with some major star power behind it, including executive producer Seth MacFarlane and showrunners Chris Yost and Eric Heisserer. At New York Comic Con earlier this month, it was confirmed the show would start filming next year (the role of Carl has not yet been cast, though), and an official logline was released, via Variety: “An alien invasion has wiped out most of humanity, and any survivors are forced to fight for their lives on a sadistic intergalactic game show. Sounds bad, right? Now try doing it with bare feet and a stuck-up, self-centered, tiara-wearing talking cat as your partner. Welcome to Dungeon Crawler World: Earth, where the apocalypse will be televised … and Coast Guard vet Carl finds himself stuck with his ex-girlfriend’s award-winning show cat, Princess Donut the Queen Anne Chonk, as they try to survive the end of the world, fighting monsters, aliens, an insane A.I. and even other survivors … all for the sake of good TV. Survival is optional. Entertainment is not.” 9. Cosmere universe Earlier this year, we learned that Apple TV had struck a deal with author Brandon Sanderson to develop film and TV projects based on his best-selling Cosmere universe—with Sanderson retaining a generous amount of creative control. There are no release dates on the table yet, or any concrete details, really, but we should eventually be getting a TV series adapted from The Stormlight Archive, as well as a film series adapting Mistborn. 10. Eragon The 2006 feature film based on Christopher Paolini’s breakout fantasy novel, which he initially published in 2001 when he was still a teenager, was a box-office flop. But the tale of a young farm boy and his dragon will get another crack at screens now that Disney+—which has found great success with another live-action YA fantasy adaptation in Percy Jackson and the Olympians—has a new series confirmed to be in development. 11. Powerless Last summer (via Deadline), Prime Video announced an adaptation of Lauren Roberts’ enemies-to-lovers romantasy about a thief and a prince thrown together in a perilous competition was in development at Amazon MGM Studios. So far there haven’t been any fresh updates, but Powerless (not to be confused with that superhero comedy from a few years back) has the power of creator-showrunner Daphne Ferraro behind it. Her previous projects include a pair of German hits: Amazon’s popular teen romance Maxton Hall: The World Between Us and Netflix’s cult-beloved Dark. 12. The Midnight Library The busy Florence Pugh (Dune: Part Three) announced earlier this year that she will star and produce an adaptation of Matt Haig’s best-selling 2020 fantasy novel about a troubled woman given the chance to explore many different versions of her life. When the announcement broke, it was said The Midnight Library was aiming to start filming in 2027 with Garth Davis (Lion) directing. We also learned at that time Paramount paid $36 million to win the project. 13. Red Rising Just last week, fans of Pierce Brown’s sci-fi-meets-Roman-mythology novel Red Rising, which released in 2014, learned a long-promised film version was back on the table. Hunger Games franchise veteran Francis Lawrence, who also helmed The Long Walk, has signed on to direct, with Justin Rhodes (Terminator: Dark Fate) working on the script. Are you excited about any upcoming or in-development fantasy films or TV shows not listed here? Share them in the comments! Want more io9 news? Check out the best movies and TV shows to stream this month and all the upcoming sci-fi, fantasy, and horror books that should be on your radar.