Universal Pictures have obtained the film rights to the late Robert Jordan’s The Wheel of Time fantasy series. In a reported seven-figure deal, Red Eagle Entertainment (who has already adapted the novels into graphic novels) will produce the films, beginning with The Eye of the World.
Robert Jordan had intended that The Wheel of Time series would consist of 12 books but his sad death, at the age of 58, has meant that fellow author Brandon Sanderson has been commissioned to complete the series. A Memory of Light will be available late in 2009. The Wheel of Time series has currently sold more than 44 million copies worldwide.
This is not the first time that the series has been optioned, in 2000 NBC planned to make The Eye of the World into a mini-series. The series never saw the light of day.
The Wheel of Time: brief synopsis
When their village is attacked by trollocs, monsters thought to be only legends, three young men, Rand, Matt, and Perrin, flee in the company of the Lady Moiraine, a sinister visitor of unsuspected powers. Thus begins an epic adventure set in a world of wonders and horror, where what was, what will be, and what is, may yet fall under the Shadow.
Who is Brandon Sanderson?
Robert Jordan biography