Brandon Sanderson, author of the Mistborn series, expressed some concern over one particular aspect of the script he’s writing for the upcoming film adaptation.
In 2006, Sanderson published The Final Empire, the first installment in the original Mistborn trilogy, which also includes The Well of Ascension and The Hero of Ages. He then expanded the series with four more books and a novella. Sanderson is currently writing the script for Apple TV’s feature-length adaptation of Mistborn.
During a recent livestream on YouTube to celebrate the 20th anniversary of Mistborn, Sanderson gave an update on how the screenwriting process is going for the movie. After recently revealing that he’s about 91% complete, he’s now admitting he’s not satisfied with the pacing of the story in the current draft.
“It might be a little too fast-paced,” Sanderson explained, before adding that he might add one or two more scenes just so that the story can “slow down and spend more time” with the main characters. “That’s my only worry about it right now.”
Aside from that concern, Sanderson feels “really good” about how the Mistborn script is coming along, and he has it “at the right page count. I’ve got everything that I wanted to do.” He’s still on track to submit his screenplay at the end of July.
“Really close to being done. It feels really good. I have it at the right page count. I’ve got everything that I wanted to do. It might be a little too fast-paced, which is odd to say, but I might need another scene or two to just slow down and spend some more time with the characters. That’s my only worry about it right now. But [it] should be ready for turn-in [at the] end of the month, like I was hoping.”
Once he does that, revisions will begin, a process which the author predicts will take a while. After that, he’ll help search for a director.
A producer has already been chosen, but the deal is still being finalized, so an announcement hasn’t been made yet. Sanderson interviewed a lot of people for the position, and then he and his wife, Emily, narrowed the field down until there was just one left.
He also really likes the Apple executives that are working on Mistborn, and they’ve been “doing really well” throughout the journey so far.
“For those who are keeping track, I have picked a producer for the Mistborn films, but we haven’t announced it yet because I don’t think their deal is quite signed yet. Hollywood deals just take forever. So we’ll wait for the Hollywood trades to announce when that deal is signed. But I’m very pleased with the producer. I did a lot of interviewing of a lot of producers, and then Emily and I settled on one, and their job is to make the thing for Apple, though Apple execs will be overseeing it. I really like the Apple execs that I have. They’ve been doing really well, so everything was good.
“Next steps on Mistborn is to turn in the screenplay and then do revisions. I imagine it’ll spend a while in revisions before we even start hunting for a director, which would be the next step in that.
The Mistborn novels center on a group of thieves that attempt to use magic to remove a tyrant from power. The series has sold over 10 million copies, and Sanderson isn’t even done with the entire story.
After publishing the original trilogy and Era Two, which consists of The Alloy of Law, Shadows of Self, The Bands of Mourning and The Lost Metal, the author is now working on Era Three.
Outside of Mistborn, Sanderson has written Elantris, The Stormlight Archive, Hoid’s Travails, White Sand, Alcatraz, Cytoverse, Legion and The Reckoners, among others. He also finished the Wheel of Time series after Robert Jordan died in 2007.
Earlier this year, Apple TV announced that it would be adapting Sanderson’s Cosmere Universe. The author himself is deeply involved in the process, including as producer, writer and consultant.
The first project being adapted is a Mistborn film, with The Stormlight Archive being developed as a TV series; Sanderson revealed during his livestream that he’ll begin work on Stormlight in a few months.
