Another classic fantasy novel series may be making its way to television. Deadline reports that a new studio is developing The Rift War Saga in a television series. The new production company, Six Studios, will focus on genre television, with the first six novels from The Rift War Cycle by Raymond E. Feist and Janny Wurts being their first major project. Writers working on the potential adaptation include Hannah Friedman (Disney+’s Willow, Obi-Wan Kenobi), Jacob Pignon (Fear the living dead) and Nick Bernardone (Fear the Walking Dead, Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt) are attached to adapt the books for a possible series. No network or streaming platform has been mentioned with the new project.
The Riftwar Cycle is a series of nearly 30 novels written primarily by Raymond Faust, which primarily focuses on two worlds – Midkemia and Kelewan – which can be navigated through magical rifts. As Six Studios owns the rights to adapt the first six novels in the series, it is likely that a TV show will focus on Pug, the magician at the heart of the first trilogy, and Mara, the protagonist of the second trilogy of books. . The two trilogies largely complement each other, but there’s enough crossover to warrant a single TV show.
Fantasy is a hot genre on TV right now, continuing a trend catapulted to the forefront by HBO game of thrones series. Major fantasy series currently include Netflix the witcher and Shadow and Bones, Prime Video The wheel of time and The Lord of the Rings, and HBO game of thrones prequel The House of the Dragon. A Dungeons & Dragons A TV show is also in development, which would complement a live-action movie slated for release in 2023.
Coincidentally, The Riftwar Cycle owes a lot to Dungeons & Dragons and other early tabletop role-playing games. Faust created the worlds of Riftwar for a tabletop role-playing game that he and his friends designed as an alternative to Dungeons & Dragons. Faust was strongly inspired by Petal Throne Empire, an early TTRPG also released by the original D&D publisher.