Wheel of Time to be brought to life…maybe

Red Eagle Entertainment has optioned the rights to Robert Jordan’s epic series The Wheel of Time. This old bit of news, brought to us back in August of last year, hasn’t seen much movement since it was announced, but it still serves to titillate the expectations of WoT fans out there.

Bringing epic fantasy literature to life has never been lacking for the movie industry. What has been lacking is that resulting product being a quality product for viewers. And then finally, epic fantasy had a benchmark set for it with Peter Jackson’s take on the Lord of the Rings. Since then, studios have been pushing hard to find the next fantasy tale that will bring in the viewers, but more important the almighty dollar.

So to tackle the Wheel of Time, a series that currently spans 11 books, with a final installment of the way, is an enormous project. The final book may even be so large that it will need to be broken down into two volumes to bring the final total to 13 books in the series. Brandon Sanderson is completing the final novel after Jordan passed in 2007.

Current Red Eagle Entertainment plans are to give movie treatment to the first book, The Eye of the World,  and then go from there. Looking to fill that Lord of the Rings void, it will not be easy, but if any can do it, it should be The Wheel of Time. And even if success cannot guaranteed, the one that can be is that the fans are waiting to weigh in.

In other fantasy novel adaptation news:

Terry Goodkind’s Sword of Truth series has been adapted into the current Legend of the Seeker syndicated television show. Currently reports have about four million viewers tuning in to see new episodes of the series. The series is not entirely faithful to Goodkind’s actual story, but the underlying story and plot is recognizable enough.

George R.R. Martin’s Song of Ice and Fire is laying in HBO’s corner for adaptation as well. And given HBO’s propensity to develop quality series, the expectation is quite large if they are able to get it off the ground.