Apple TV has picked up the rights to bestselling kids/YA and fantasy author Brandon Sanderson’s books, with plans for multiple film and TV adaptations. 

Sanderson is a prolific author who’s probably best known for fantasy epics The Stormlight Archive series and Mistborn, both of which are set in a shared universe called the Cosmere, and both of which are part of this deal. His books have sold more than 50 million copies worldwide, but he has resisted selling the entertainment rights until now. 

Sanderson recommends Mistborn for YA readers. It focuses on a 16-year-old teenage protagonist with special powers who joins a ragtag group to overthrow an evil emperor. If any of that reminds you of Harry Potter or Star Wars, that’s intentional; both were inspirations for the series.

The plan is to make several movies out of the Mistborn trilogy, and to develop a TV series based on the older-skewing Stormlight Archive fantasy books, which Sanderson has said will eventually span 10 titles (there are already seven published). This epic story revolves around various factions vying for power in a world of war and gods. 

Sanderson went to Hollywood in May to shop around the rights to his Cosmere universe. He says he chose Apple TV as a partner because the streamer has a track-record for making high-quality content and will allow him plenty of creative control, according to a Reddit post from yesterday. Sanderson plans to write the theatrical screenplay for Mistborn over the next five months before starting on the Stormlight Archive TV concept.

Also in the author’s publishing catalogue are several children’s books, including a middle-grade series called Alcatraz vs. the Evil Librarians that’s published by Scholastic. But one of Sanderson’s most recent kids titles is 2024’s The Most Boring Book Ever (Macmillan Publishers) from 2024.

He also recently crowdfunded roughly US$42 million to create four novels, which speaks volumes about the size of his fanbase.

Image courtesy of Dragonsteel/Brandon Sanderson.