When it comes to long-awaited book sequels, few series have gained as much notoriety as The Kingkiller Chronicle by Patrick Rothfuss. The first book, The Name of the Wind, came out way back in 2007, with sequel The Wise Man’s Fear continuing the tale in 2011. Since then, fans have been waiting almost a decade to read the ending to Rothfuss’ trilogy about Kvothe the magician/bard/humble innkeeper.
That’s not to say that all’s been quiet on the Kingkiller front, however. Rothfuss has lately been talking quite a bit more about his work on the third book, The Doors of Stone. He even read the prologue recently in a live Twitch event. Beyond that, in 2015 it was announced that Lion’s Gate had acquired the film rights for the series and was considering making a television show, movies, and even video games.
Of all those projects, the television show was the one that seemed to be making the most headway. Showtime passed on developing the series in 2019, but Lion’s Gate TV continued development and last we heard was still shopping it around to other networks. Lin-Manuel Miranda, the composer behind hits like Hamilton, Moana, and Encanto, was tapped to provide the music. Kvothe is a bard from a long line of other bards, and music is a pretty important piece of the Kingkiller puzzle, so this was an exciting development.
But The Kingkiller Chronicle is a complex story, and adapting any aspect of it seemed to be equally as complex. Miranda updated fans on Twitter in 2018, describing what he’d done for the project and what songs still awaited treatment. “Lay of Sir Savien has me sh*tting my pants. Not ready yet. Already have sketches for Lady Lackless and Chandrian rhyming tune, did those for fun from the book,” he wrote.
“The Lay of Sir Savien” is a notoriously difficult song within the world of The Kingkiller Chronicle, which of course, Kvothe eventually learns to play. On a lute missing strings and without breaking a sweat, because that’s just the kind of guy he is.
Lin-Manuel Miranda is no longer working on The Kingkiller Chronicle show
Since then things have been pretty quiet on the Kingkiller adaptation front…but recently Miranda featured on the Variety Award Circuit podcast, where he talked up his various projects. Miranda’s song “Dos Oruguitas” from Encanto is currently up for an Oscar for Best Original Song, and he always has plenty more projects in the hopper. His next movie out is Disney’s live-action take on The Little Mermaid, which releases in 2023.
But Lin-Manuel Miranda’s project we most wanted to know about was The Kingkiller Chronicle, and he did talk about it a bit. Unfortunately, it’s not good news. The award-winning composer confirmed that he is no longer attached to the production.
“Oh I’m not on that ride anymore,” he said when asked about Kingkiller. “It’s an incredible book and an incredible series, and Patrick is just like a once-in-a-lifetime talent. We never cracked it. And I don’t know where it is, but my time on it kind of ran out, and I just was like, ‘I’m sorry I couldn’t get you any closer and help you figure out how this insane Russian nesting doll structure of a book becomes a movie or a TV show.’ But yeah, I’m not on that anymore.”
“Insane Russian nesting doll” is a pretty apt way to describe The Kingkiller Chronicle, which has a timeline set in Kvothe’s present where he’s an innkeeper, the exploits of his past which he narrates, and even deeper stories-within-stories moments when past Kvothe tells other stories. It’s a twisty tale, and even though it was reported that the television show would be set as a prequel to the series, it’s easy to imagine that it might still share some of the same narrative flourishes that have been so central to Rothfuss’ work.
Whatever the state of The Kingkiller Chronicle show, we’ll be on the lookout for any updates. Fortunately, if there’s one thing fans of this series know how to do, it’s wait.
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