Brandon Sanderson is one of the most prolific authors in fantasy today, best known for his own sprawling Cosmere universe, which includes The Stormlight Archive and the Mistborn series. Beyond his own work, he is also famously the author who stepped in to finish Robert Jordan's The Wheel of Time after Jordan's death in 2007, completing the final three books in the series.
Recently, when a fan asked him during a livestream whether he would ever write for Frank Herbert's Dune, one of science fiction's most celebrated franchises, his answer was not what most people would have anticipated.
The question came up during the livestream celebrating the release of Blightfall, Riftwake book 1, which Sanderson co-authored with Janci Patterson. Patterson was quick to rule herself out. She told the stream she had only made it through half of Dune when Sanderson assigned it during his creative writing class years ago, saying she simply has not read enough of the series to take it on.
Sanderson's answer was also a no, and it was more interesting for it. He said that he feels the series has already been so thoroughly explored that there is no real gap for anyone else to fill.
Brandon Sanderson believes the Dune universe does not need another author
Frank Herbert published the original Dune in 1965, and it went on to become one of the best-selling science fiction novels of all time. He wrote five sequels over the following two decades before his death in 1986, leaving the story without a firm conclusion: Dune Messiah, Children of Dune, God Emperor of Dune, Heretics of Dune, and Chapterhouse: Dune.
Since 1999, his son Brian Herbert and co-author Kevin J. Anderson have written around 20 additional books set in the universe.
Explaining his thinking during the stream, Sanderson said, "I would probably say no because I feel like the Dune universe has been well plumbed. Does that make sense? Well, there are enough things in the Dune universe and whatnot."
He also acknowledged his own knowledge of the later books is patchier than one might expect.
"While I love Dune, man, my knowledge of the last two Dune books—I've only read each of them once. I've read Dune itself, you know, five/six times, and I've read the first three multiple times, but the last two in particular, I've only read once. I think I've read God Emperor twice, maybe," he said.
Patterson noted that at this stage of his career, taking on someone else's world is not really something Sanderson might see himself doing. "I think you're a little past the point in your career where you're probably picking up things for other authors anyway," she said.
Sanderson agreed but also pointed to his Magic: The Gathering novella as an example of an exception he made because he really wanted to. "I did the Magic the Gathering story because I really wanted to. So it's not impossible that there would be something else that would be like that, right?" he said.
Sanderson explains why Wheel of Time was different
Another interesting part of the answer was where Sanderson drew the line between Dune and the Wheel of Time. When Jordan died in 2007, having written 11 of the planned 14 books, his widow and editor, Harriet McDougal, chose Sanderson to complete the series.
Sanderson went on to write the final three volumes: The Gathering Storm, Towers of Midnight, and A Memory of Light. That situation, he said, was simply different in kind.
He drew the comparison himself during the livestream, pointing to Anne McCaffrey's Dragonriders of Pern series as an example of a world that did not need an outside voice. McCaffrey's son Todd McCaffrey stepped in to continue the Pern books both alongside his mother and on his own, and Sanderson said that precedent matters.
"I love Anne McCaffrey's book, but Todd McCaffrey did a really good job of continuing that legacy. So there's no need, right? With Wheel of Time, there was a need for someone to step in," he said.
Sanderson chose to take up completing The Wheel of Time series because the story was genuinely unfinished and someone with the ability and the commitment to the source material needed to see it through.
Dune, by contrast, has had Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson producing books since 1999, including two sequels that completed the story Frank Herbert left unfinished when he died in 1986. The job, in Sanderson's view, is already done.
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