Jon Favreau to Direct Fantasy Series Pilot SHANARRA
Iron Man director Jon Favreau is set to direct a small screen adaptation of the fantasy series The Sword of Shanarra from author Terry Brooks. He will direct the pilot series for MTV. For those of you not familiar with the book, it borrows a ton of ideas and concepts from J.R.R. Tolkien's Middle Earth novels. The story centers on a world that is set thousands of years after a series of apocalyptic wars mutate mankind into elves and dwarves. The wars also ended up changing Earth's geographic layout. Here's a description from the first book,
Living in peaceful Shady Vale, Shea Ohmsford knew little of the troubles that plagued the rest of the world. Then the giant, forbidding Allanon revaled that the supposedly dead Warlock Lord was plotting to destory the world. The sole weapon against this Power of Darkness was the Sword of Shannara, which could only be used by a true heir of Shannara--Shea being the last of the bloodline, upon whom all hope rested. Soon a Skull Bearer, dread minion of Evil, flew into the Vale, seeking to destroy Shea. To save the Vale, Shea fled, drawing the Skull Bearer after him....
The news comes from Deadline, who also reports that Smallville creators Al Gough and Miles Millar are writing the script, and that they will executive produce alongside Favreau. The series will be called Shanarra, and the report also says that if MTV likes the pilot script, the show will give the project a straight-to-series order. Network president Susanne Daniels had this to say in a statement,
“I am thrilled to be working with the Smallville creators Al and Miles again along with the amazingly talented Jon Favreau. We feel that the Shannara novels are a perfect fit for MTV as this type of fantasy genre has continuously proved to resonate with our audience.”
The site goes on to say that the story for the series "is centered on the Shannara [millargough] family, whose descendants are empowered with ancient magic and whose adventures continuously reshape the future of the world. The first season of the potential series will be based on The Elfstones Of Shannara, the second title in the series — a fan favorite accredited with cementing the series place in the fantasy world. The book series features plenty of young-adult adventure and romance to suite MTV’s target demographic."
This could be an incredible series! There's a lot of talented people involved. It might actually get me to watch MTV, which is a channel I never, ever watch. Hopefully they give it the production value it needs to make the series work.
Do you think this will end up being a good series?