Pierce Brown's Red Rising saga is heading to the big screen. Paramount Pictures has picked up the film rights to the best-selling sci-fi series, and Francis Lawrence, the director behind most of The Hunger Games films, is attached to direct an adaptation of the first novel. The deal was first reported yesterday (October 16th) by The Hollywood Reporter, and the other major trades confirmed it shortly after.
Here is the original report as it was shared on X:
Who Is Making The Red Rising Movie
The film will adapt the first book, which is also titled Red Rising. Justin Rhodes is writing the script. Rhodes worked with Lawrence while developing Netflix's BioShock movie, and his other credits include Terminator: Dark Fate, the Prime Video series Secret Level, and Paramount's upcoming drama The Traveler, which is due to shoot next year. His Apple feature Liminal, based on the graphic novel from AWA, recently wrapped production with Vanessa Kirby and Yahya Abdul-Mateen II.
Lawrence and Cameron MacConomy will produce through their about:blank banner, alongside Francesco Goedhuis. Brown is on board as an executive producer, which should be a relief for readers who want the author's voice in the room as the story moves to film.
No cast, release date, or production start has been announced yet. Paramount also has not said whether it plans to adapt the rest of the series if the first movie works.
What Red Rising Is About
Red Rising blends Roman mythology with science fiction. It is set on Mars in a future where society is split into a color-coded caste system, with the Golds ruling at the top and the Reds stuck at the bottom doing hard labor in the mines. The story follows Darrow of Lykos, a young Red miner who believes his people are working to make Mars livable for future generations.
After he suffers a devastating loss and learns the truth about the lie his people have been living, Darrow is remade to look like a Gold so he can infiltrate their society. He enrolls at a brutal military institute where young Golds are tested before joining the highest ranks, all while working with a rebellion that wants to tear the whole hierarchy down.
A Long Road To The Screen
The first book was published in 2014 by Del Rey, and the series has grown a lot since then. Six books are out so far: Red Rising, Golden Son, Morning Star, Iron Gold, Dark Age, and Light Bringer. A seventh and final novel, Red God, is still on the way with no release date. Brown has also written a Red Rising comic book prequel story published by Dynamite Entertainment, and the series has expanded into a board game as well. Back in 2024, Brown announced on Instagram that the saga had sold over 6 million copies.
Hollywood has tried to crack the series before. Red Rising was once set up for feature development at Universal, and in the late 2010s it was being eyed as a TV series. Neither version made it to the screen, so this marks the first real momentum on an adaptation in years.
Starting with the first book gives the film a more contained story to work with. Most of it takes place on Mars and inside the Institute, while the later books grow into a war that spans the entire solar system with a much larger cast.
Why Francis Lawrence Fits
Lawrence has plenty of experience with young heroes fighting against brutal class systems. He directed Catching Fire, both parts of Mockingjay, and The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes, and his next film is The Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping, which hits theaters next month (November 20th). He most recently directed the Stephen King adaptation The Long Walk, and he has also lined up Carry Me to My Grave, an adaptation of a horror novel by Christopher Golden.
Red Rising also joins a growing stack of book adaptations at Paramount. The studio releases Children of Blood and Bone, based on Tomi Adeyemi's novel, early next year (January 15th, 2027). Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, based on Gabrielle Zevin's novel, is in production with Daisy Edgar-Jones, and The Midnight Library, starring Florence Pugh and based on Matt Haig's novel, is due to shoot next year.
The comparisons to The Hunger Games are easy to make, and Brown's series has always had a harder edge. The Institute section of the first book is famously violent, so it will be interesting to see how far Paramount is willing to let Lawrence go.
Are you excited to see Darrow on the big screen with Francis Lawrence in charge, or would you rather Red Rising had gone to a TV series that could cover all seven books?
Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.