8 stories from Brandon Sanderson’s Cosmere we need adapted onscreen
By Daniel Roman
The Stormlight Archive
Finally we arrive at Sanderson’s magnum opus, The Stormlight Archive. This is the author’s immense, door-stopping fantasy series, comparable in size and scope to other massive sagas like George R.R. Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire, Stephen Erikson’s Malazan Book of the Fallen, and Robert Jordan’s The Wheel of Time (which Sanderson wrote the final three books after Jordan died).
The Stormlight books feature epic quests, magical warfare, political intrigue, a large cast of characters, and a unique world that feels real and lived in. The world of Roshar is wracked by vicious storms, which has influenced everything from the flora and fauna to the many cultures populating it. The results are often wondrous, and unlike any other fantasy story out there.
Adapting The Stormlight Archive is the dream for many Cosmere fans. It contains many of Sanderson’s most beloved characters, like Kaladin Stormblessed and his spren companion Syl, artist Shallan Davar, and warlord Dalinar Kholin. The rub is that these are huge, complicated books. It’d be a colossal undertaking for any studio to adapt them. Plus, Sanderson is still writing them; the fifth book in the series is due out in 2024, with another five to follow.
However, if The Stormlight Archive were to ever make the leap to the screen, I’d encourage the producers to try and match Sanderson’s ambition. Part of what makes Stormlight so notable is how Sanderson melds formats to create a truly unique kind of fantasy novel, combining a long novel with a collection of short stories and even artwork. It’d be cool to see a film adaptation function in a similar way, whether by tying together movies together with short films, having a TV show with animated spinoff episodes, or something else no one’s thought of yet.
Sanderson’s Stormlight Archive pushes the boundaries of the novel. It’d be amazing to see a screen adaptation follow suit. Out of all Sanderson’s works, Stormlight is the one that most deserves the widespread recognition that an adaptation could bring.