Tamora Pierce's 'Tortall Universe' Is Finally Getting A TV Adaptation
It took long enough, but Hollywood is finally wising up to the untapped potential of Tamora Pierce's works. Pierce is one of the most prolific YA fantasy of all time, but her books have remained largely ignored by Hollywood, despite fantasy adaptations being all the rage lately in the wake of Game of Thrones and Harry Potter. But the rich, immensely diverse world of Tamora Pierce's Tortall Universe is getting the long-deserved TV series adaptation from Lionsgate. And judging by the number of novels and short stories in this decades-spanning saga, the Tortall Universe TV series will be a long one.
Deadline reports that Lionsgate and Playground Entertainment, the company behind the Harry Potter and the Cursed Child stage play, are developing Tamora Pierce's Tortall Universe saga into a TV series. That's quite a commitment considering the 22 books and numerous short stories that encompass the series that began with Pierce's very first book, 1983's Alanna: The First Adventure.
"Not only am I over the moon that the Tortall books will be adapted by Playground, but I know my fans will be ecstatic," Pierce said in a statement accompanying the announcement.
Playground's Colin Callender, who will executive produce alongside Scott Huff and David A. Stern, added, "Tamora has proven time and again that she is an unparalleled world-builder. The breadth of the source material in her Tortall series is staggering and we're thrilled to be partnering with her to bring these incredible stories to life."
The first series of books set in the Tortall Universe, contained in the quartet Song of the Lioness, followed the titular Alanna as she trained to become a knight in a medieval fantasy kingdom that banned women from fighting. Pierce would expand her world through five more book series, each following different protagonists and set at different time periods. But right at the beginning, those first novels embody the kind of progressive, feminist fantasy that Pierce would become known for — and which big and small screen fantasy adaptations are still sorely missing. While it's taken far too long for Pierce's works to be adapted (I'm still waiting on the Circle Universe series), it makes sense why Hollywood balked at the prospect of adapting a Tortall Universe TV series — the 36-year saga is still ongoing, and Pierce shows no signs of slowing down.