8 book adaptations we want instead of more Lord of the Rings movies

4. Literally anything by Brandon Sanderson

Brandon Sanderson is the author who finished Robert Jordan’s The Wheel of Time series after Jordan’s untimely passing, as well as a famously prolific creator who puts out books so fast that even the new Chat GPT AI cries bitter tears of envy.

Sanderson has plenty of book series that would make great movies or shows. Hollywood studios, if you’re listening, just pick one and profit.

In all seriousness though, if we’re going to discuss adaptations of Brandon Sanderson’s work, there’s only one place to start: the Cosmere. This is the huge, interconnected universe where all of Sanderson’s adult science fiction and fantasy stories take place. Long-running series like Mistborn and The Stormlight Archive are part of it, as are standalones like Elantris, Warbreaker, and his latest novel Tress of the Emerald Sea. Could we one day see a Sanderson cinematic universe to rival Marvel’s?

Perhaps, but the nice thing about Sanderson’s Cosmere stories is that most of them also stand somewhat well on their own. Mistborn is currently comprised of a dark epic fantasy trilogy as well as a steampunk detective-style quartet of novels. Each has their own on and off ramps, meaning that a studio could adapt them without having to commit to a million other Cosmere stories.

Sanderson has teased on his YouTube channel that we may be getting some Hollywood updates this year thanks to the success of his record-shattering Secret Project Kickstarter. It’s kind of hilarious that it took breaking the record for the most successful Kickstarter of all time for Hollywood to finally get its act together enough to start banging down Sanderson’s door, but hey, better late than never. His books have taken the literary world by storm; why not the big or small screen too?