With Showtime having already picked up the rights to air a television adaptation of the next Game of Thrones, The Kingkiller Chronicles, many fans were left wondering why they were going in the direction they’d announced–the prequel direction, of course.
Patrick Rothfuss’s Kingkiller Chronicles, and its leading man, Kvothe, are already good enough to star as an adaptation, so why create a fuzzy, non-canon series based off non-existent prequel material? The formula seems weak. It turns out they’re doing this not in a standalone world, but as a partner piece to feature length films to be directed by none other than Sam Raimi, best known for his directorial work on the Evil Dead series as well as the original Spider-Man trilogy.
This actually makes some sense, as Lionsgate, producing both the television series and features, having hired Lin-Manuel Miranda, star and creator of Hamilton, to serve as a defect musical show runner for the Kingkiller cinematic universe (we won’t stop using the term unless you do), it makes sense, even if we don’t like it. It seems that they’re trying to stretch the material too thin. Why create a less-than-stellar, watered down television series and simultaneously try to cram too much of the more-than-stellar source material into too few movies?
If you want to steal the Game of Thrones playbook, do so, then follow it (Phase II), and Phase III, profit!
Either way, Lionsgate is picking powerhouse players to try to bring this world to life, and the source material deserves it to be done well–so let’s remain hopeful that this plan has more to it than we know.
Sam Raimi to Direct ‘Kingkiller Chronicle’ for Lionsgate and Lin-Manuel Miranda [Variety]
