As reported by both Polygon and Reactor, Brandon Sanderson is once again talking openly about screen adaptations of his work—and, perhaps more importantly, about the degree of control he intends to retain over them. That detail alone makes this worth paying attention to.
Hollywood adaptations of popular fantasy and science fiction have a long and uneven history, and optimism rarely comes without caveats. Still, the idea of a Cosmere adaptation—handled with care, budget, and authorial involvement—is difficult not to find at least somewhat intriguing.
One of the more reassuring points in the reporting is Sanderson’s insistence on creative control. This is not a minor detail. Even the strongest source material can be mangled beyond recognition in the wrong hands. The Rings of Power is a good recent example: lavishly produced, technically impressive, and yet—at least to my mind—fundamentally hollow. Beautiful, highly polished crap is still crap.
Sanderson’s position suggests he is acutely aware of this risk. His hesitation to move forward without meaningful influence over the end result reads less like stubbornness and more like hard-earned realism.
That said, I remain only cautiously optimistic. We have seen no shortage of ambitious adaptation plans fail to materialize or collapse under their own weight. Patrick Rothfuss’ Kingkiller Chronicle is perhaps the most infamous example: once positioned as a multi-format franchise spanning film, television, and games, it ultimately produced nothing at all. Other projects—American Gods, The Dark Tower, and even parts of The Witcher—serve as reminders that success in one medium does not translate automatically to another.
The timing is also notable. With The Wheel of Time ending after its third season, and The Witcher approaching its conclusion with the upcoming fifth, there is a clear vacuum in big-budget, ongoing fantasy television. Streaming platforms are still hungry for “the next thing,” even if they have become more cautious after several expensive misfires.
In that context, the Cosmere makes a certain kind of sense. It is expansive, internally consistent, and already structured as a shared universe—something studios understand instinctively. At the same time, that same complexity is a risk. Worldbuilding depth is a strength on the page, but can easily become a liability on screen if mishandled.
For now, this remains firmly in the realm of “interesting possibility” rather than imminent reality. Still, if there is one modern fantasy author I would trust to push back against the worst excesses of adaptation-by-committee, Sanderson is a reasonable candidate.
You can read the original reporting at Polygon and Reactor:
If nothing else, it is refreshing to see an author enter these discussions with eyes open—and with a clear understanding that fidelity, restraint, and good judgment matter just as much as spectacle.
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