Pierce Brown's Red Rising saga has spent years in development, but the director now attached to the movie says the project finally has momentum. Speaking with IGN, Francis Lawrence said the adaptation "seems to be a priority at Paramount," and explained why an earlier attempt at Netflix never got off the ground.
Earlier this month, Paramount acquired the film rights to the bestselling sci-fi series and set Lawrence to direct an adaptation of the first book. Justin Rhodes, a writer-producer whose credits include Terminator: Dark Fate and Prime Video's Secret Level, is writing the script. Lawrence and Cameron MacConomy are producing alongside Francesco Goedhuis, with Brown serving as an executive producer.
Eight Years in the Making
Lawrence told IGN he has been attached to Red Rising for about eight years, and that it was MacConomy, his longtime producing partner, who first brought him the books.
"He found the books and brought [them] to me, and I fell in love with them, and Cam is in love with them," Lawrence said. "We met with Pierce and we brought it out to market and went to Netflix. We were going to do it as a series, originally."
That series never happened. According to Lawrence, the problem was not the material but the shifting structure at the streamer.
"Unfortunately, our experience at Netflix, we had two amazing pilots written, but regimes kept changing and they kept creating these departments of 'tentpole, now it's YA, back to tentpole again,'" he explained. "It was getting bounced around, and it's not a cheap [project] to make and to do it right. They never got the guts to pull the trigger on it. And so, the rights reverted back to Pierce."
Why Lawrence Wants Red Rising in Theaters
For fans who have long argued that the sprawling saga needs a TV series to do it justice, Lawrence offered a different view. He said he was happy when Brown took the rights to Paramount, because he thinks the story belongs on the big screen.
"I actually prefer the theatrical approach for Red Rising rather than streaming, because I think it's a series that's definitely deserving of a theatrical experience and IMAX and the whole thing," Lawrence said.
He also gave an update on where things stand. "We have a writer that we like, who is now starting work on a script, and hopefully that's something that we will put together quite quickly. It seems to be a priority at Paramount, which is great," he said. "But I love the books and I love Pierce and I'm really, really excited."
No cast, filming schedule or release date has been announced.
The Story Heading to the Screen
The first novel, published in 2014, follows Darrow, a Red miner on Mars who discovers that his people have been enslaved by the ruling Gold caste. After being physically remade so he can infiltrate Gold society, he joins a rebellion aimed at tearing down the color-based hierarchy that rules his world.
Brown's series has since grown well beyond that opening trilogy, which is part of why so many readers assumed it would end up as a long-form show. A movie built around the first book gives Paramount a chance to test the waters before committing to the rest of the saga, and the studio has been building out its genre slate, including a Daisy Ridley-led Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea reboot.
Lawrence is no stranger to big book adaptations. He has directed five Hunger Games films, including The Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping, which opens November 20, and he recently adapted Stephen King's The Long Walk. He also told IGN about the BioShock movie he is making for Netflix, which has had its own long road to production.
Would you rather see Red Rising as a theatrical film series, or do you still think it needed the room of a TV show?
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