Apple's New Fantasy Movie Adaptation Of A 10/10 Masterpiece Could Get 9+ Sequels

Published Sep 13, 2026, 4:15 PM EDT Felipe Rangel is a Movie and TV Journalist ScreenRant. He has been writing about movies and TV since 2021. Felipe joined ScreenRant in 2022, working across different teams, covering everything from breaking news to features to reviews and more. Felipe is a writer who is an avid film and TV fan, with superhero movies and series being his biggest passion. He graduated from college in 2019, having studied Journalism. Before college, he spent a month studying at the Oxford English Centre. His superhero knowledge expands to the comics, with his undergraduate thesis being "Politics Reflected In American Comics." Sign in to your ScreenRant account Apple TV's new fantasy movie adapts a masterpiece genre entry that should lead to a massive live-action franchise for the streaming service, and it has the potential to keep going for more than three trilogies. There have been many memorable fantasy movie franchises over the years. Among the genre's best stand Harry Potter, The Lord of the Rings, How to Train your Dragon, and more. I find it funny that when you look at those three, specifically, it is clear that studios are going back to material that has already worked. Take Harry Potter, which not only got a spin-off Fantastic Beasts movie trilogy, but will now return through a Harry Potter reboot series on HBO this Christmas. The Lord of the Rings has also ventured into TV. After all, Prime Video's The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power is the most expensive TV show of all time. Additionally, The Lord of the Rings: the Hunt for Gollum will resurrect the franchise in theaters in 2027. Finally, the animated How to Train your Dragon trilogy is being remade for live-action. Contrary to that movement of reviving the past is Apple TV. A Compendium of Enchanted Cinema How Well Do You Know Fantasy Movies? “Magic always comes with a price.” 🪄SpellsWingardium Leviosa 🐉BeastsHere be dragons 👑KingdomsLong live the king ⚔QuestsThe hero’s journey 🔮MagicWhat lies ahead OPEN THE GRIMOIRE → 01 Across the Harry Potter films, the boy wizard is rarely without his loyal companion — a snowy owl gifted to him by Hagrid on his eleventh birthday. What is the owl’s name? AHedwig BErrol CPigwidgeon DCrookshanks ✓ Correct! Hedwig — the snowy owl Harry receives in The Philosopher’s Stone — becomes one of his most beloved companions. Errol is the Weasleys’ ancient, accident-prone owl; Pigwidgeon is Ron’s tiny hyperactive owl; and Crookshanks is Hermione’s ginger cat — not an owl at all. ✗ Not quite! The answer is Hedwig. Errol is the Weasleys’ clumsy family owl, Pigwidgeon is Ron’s tiny owl from later books, and Crookshanks is Hermione’s cat. Hedwig is the snowy owl Hagrid buys Harry for his birthday — even getting her own leitmotif from composer John Williams. NEXT → 02 In Rob Reiner’s 1987 cult classic The Princess Bride, the farm boy Westley answers Buttercup’s every demand with the same three words — which she comes to realize actually mean “I love you.” What does he say? A“As you wish” B“Inconceivable!” C“My only love” D“Anything for you” ✓ Correct! “As you wish” is Westley’s signature line — and the film’s emotional core. “Inconceivable!” is Vizzini’s catchphrase (prompting Inigo’s famous “You keep using that word…”). The other two were never in William Goldman’s script — the whole point is that three plain words carry all the meaning. ✗ Not quite! The answer is “As you wish.” “Inconceivable!” belongs to the Sicilian Vizzini. Buttercup slowly realizes that Westley’s endlessly repeated “As you wish” is really his way of saying “I love you” — one of the most quoted lines in fantasy cinema. NEXT → 03 The 2006 Spanish-language masterpiece Pan’s Labyrinth blends a fascist-era fairy tale with the grim reality of post-Civil War Spain, featuring the nightmarish Pale Man. Which director created this dark fantasy? AAlfonso Cuarón BGuillermo del Toro CPedro Almodóvar DRobert Rodriguez ✓ Correct! Guillermo del Toro wrote and directed Pan’s Labyrinth, designing the Faun and the eyeless Pale Man himself. He’d later win Best Director and Best Picture for The Shape of Water. Cuarón directed Prisoner of Azkaban; Almodóvar is Spain’s great melodramatist; Rodriguez is del Toro’s close friend but made Sin City and Spy Kids. ✗ Not quite! The answer is Guillermo del Toro. Alfonso Cuarón (a fellow “Three Amigos” of Mexican cinema) directed Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, Pedro Almodóvar makes Spanish melodramas, and Robert Rodriguez made Sin City. Del Toro’s creature designs in Pan’s Labyrinth are now iconic. NEXT → 04 In The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (2005), the four Pevensie children first stumble into the snowy land of Narnia by passing through what object? AA magic mirror BA wardrobe CA painting DA wishing well ✓ Correct! It’s a wardrobe — it’s right there in the title. Lucy hides inside during a game and finds the snow and lamppost of Narnia beyond the fur coats. A magical painting actually appears in the sequel, The Voyage of the Dawn Treader; the mirror and well are red herrings from other fantasy tales. ✗ Not quite! The answer is a wardrobe — literally named in the title. Lucy Pevensie pushes past the coats and steps out into snowy Narnia by the lamppost. (A magical painting does pull the children into the sea in the later film The Voyage of the Dawn Treader — but not here.) NEXT → 05 The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003) made Oscar history as the first fantasy film to win Best Picture, sweeping every category it was nominated in. How many Academy Awards did it take home? A4 B7 C9 D11 ✓ Correct! Return of the King won all 11 of its nominations — tying Ben-Hur (1959) and Titanic (1997) for the all-time record, and becoming the first (and so far only) fantasy film to win Best Picture. Remarkably, it earned zero acting nominations yet still swept the board clean. ✗ Not quite! The answer is 11 — a perfect clean sweep. Return of the King tied Ben-Hur and Titanic for the most Oscar wins ever and broke fantasy’s long Best Picture drought. Fellowship of the Ring won 4 and The Two Towers won 2; the finale took everything it was nominated for. NEXT → 06 In the swashbuckling Pirates of the Caribbean films, Johnny Depp earned an Oscar nomination playing a swaggering, kohl-eyed pirate captain reportedly inspired by Keith Richards. What is the character’s name? AWill Turner BDavy Jones CCaptain Jack Sparrow DHector Barbossa ✓ Correct! Captain Jack Sparrow — Depp’s loose-limbed, rum-soaked performance earned a surprise Best Actor nomination for The Curse of the Black Pearl. Will Turner is the blacksmith hero (Orlando Bloom), Davy Jones is the tentacle-faced villain (Bill Nighy), and Hector Barbossa is the mutinous rival captain (Geoffrey Rush). ✗ Not quite! The answer is Captain Jack Sparrow. Will Turner (Orlando Bloom) is the earnest blacksmith, Davy Jones (Bill Nighy) is the squid-faced sea villain, and Hector Barbossa (Geoffrey Rush) is the cursed rival. It was Depp’s Sparrow — modeled partly on Keith Richards — who earned the Oscar nod. NEXT → 07 Jim Henson’s 1986 musical fantasy Labyrinth features a teenage Jennifer Connelly navigating a maze to rescue her baby brother from the flamboyant, wild-haired Goblin King Jareth. Which rock legend played Jareth? ADavid Bowie BTim Curry CMick Jagger DSting ✓ Correct! David Bowie played Jareth, writing and performing the film’s songs including “Magic Dance” and “As the World Falls Down.” Tim Curry famously played the demon Darkness in another Ridley Scott fantasy, Legend (also 1985-86). Jagger and Sting are rock icons but never donned Jareth’s glittering cape and wild wig. ✗ Not quite! The answer is David Bowie. Tim Curry played the towering devil Darkness in the rival fantasy Legend around the same time. Bowie not only starred as Jareth the Goblin King but composed and sang the soundtrack — “Magic Dance” remains the film’s signature number. NEXT → 08 In the 1984 classic The NeverEnding Story, the young warrior Atreyu journeys across the dying realm of Fantasia and befriends a furry, dog-faced luckdragon who carries him through the skies. What is the luckdragon’s name? AArtax BFalkor CGmork DBastian ✓ Correct! Falkor (Falkor the luckdragon) is the friendly, scale-and-fur covered dragon who aids Atreyu and Bastian. Artax is Atreyu’s horse, lost heartbreakingly in the Swamp of Sadness; Gmork is the wolf-like servant of The Nothing; and Bastian is the real-world boy reading the story who is ultimately drawn into it. ✗ Not quite! The answer is Falkor. Artax is Atreyu’s beloved horse (the Swamp of Sadness scene scarred a generation), Gmork is the menacing wolf-beast serving The Nothing, and Bastian is the bullied boy reading the book. Falkor is the soaring luckdragon — one of fantasy cinema’s most cherished creatures. REVEAL MY SCORE → The Grimoire Closes · Quest Complete Your Fantasy Rank 🔮 / 8 Archmage of the Silver Screen — or still lost in the labyrinth? ⤴ CAST AGAIN Apple TV's library of movies will soon become home to the first adaptation of a masterpiece fantasy novel, Brandon Sanderson's Mistborn, and the Cosmere shared universe it belongs to. Sanderson is also writing the Mistborn movie, making it one of the most highly-anticipated upcoming fantasy releases. Mistborn could give Apple TV a 10-movie franchise at the very least, granted the first film is a hit. Apple's Mistborn Franchise Should Have At Least 10 Books To Adapt Credit: Tor Publishing Group / Danny Schlitz The way Sanderson has built this fantasy franchise is through extensive lore, intricate magic systems, and different genres, which are all spread out across different eras. So far, Mistborn Era One and Mistborn Era Two (the home of the Wax and Wayne novels) have been published, with Era Three confirmed to be on the way by the prolific author. Mistborn Era One, which is the basis for the upcoming live-action Apple TV fantasy movie, consists of a trilogy of novels. Its story is centered on a crew of thieves trying to oust the dictator known as Lord Ruler. Mistborn Era Two has one more novel, with a total of four books dedicated to the story of Wax and Wayne, two lawmen in a steampunk world with a Western tone. As for Mistborn Era Three, those books have yet to be released, though Sanderson has already confirmed that the hit fantasy franchise is going back to a trilogy format. They are expected to arrive in December 2028, 2029 and 2030, respectively. As such, Apple TV's live-action Mistborn franchise will have at the very least 10 books to adapt due to Sanderson's three Eras, and more if the series of novels expands beyond those already announced. Mistborn's Different Eras Are A Blessing & A Curse For Apple's Adaptation On the one hand, Mistborn's three Eras are perfect for Apple TV. The streaming service has rich source material to adapt with plenty of complex characters, unique and immersive worlds, different genres and tones, and many more. What this means is that those who have never read the Mistborn novels are going to step into an expansive world that keeps reinventing itself, always coming up with new ways to stay fresh, exciting, and challenging. Apple TV's Mistborn will stand as a movie franchise with different entry points and soft reboots with new casts/characters, which does away with troubles related to signing actors for several movies, like Marvel does. The problem with that approach is that it could risk alienating the audience when those reboots come. Mistborn's first two Eras are completely different, with nearly all characters swapped between them, as well as taking place in wildly different versions of the same world, as Era 2 is set over 300 years after the first, and those events deeply affect what comes later. Finally, they explore different genres; heist dark fantasy and steampunk western. As such, it might be jarring for audiences just how different the Apple TV fantasy movie franchise could get, though I believe the Mistborn adaptations have everything to build a popular and long-running franchise.