Brandon Sanderson has been keeping fans updated on the progress of the Mistborn screenplay, which he's writing for Apple TV. After several months of writing, Sanderson announced he's cleared another major hurdle for the screenplay. The first draft of the screenplay is complete.
"First draft of the Mistborn screenplay is at, bing, 100 percent," Sanderson revealed to fans on his weekly YouTube video.
Sanderson also announced the news on Instagram with a picture of the first page of the screenplay. The caption reads, "After many months of work, I'm thrilled to announce the first draft of the Mistborn screenplay is DONE! Just in time to celebrate the book's original publication, twenty years ago this month. Do please remember that this is just an early step in a very long process, but I'm terribly excited by how it turned out!"
So, now, they can start filming the Mistborn movie immediately, right? Well, no, it's not like that at all actually.
The Mistborn movie is not coming anytime soon, according to Sanderson
Immediately after announcing the news, Sanderson tempered expectations and reminded fans that there is a long process ahead with many revisions before the movie comes to life.
"This is an early step in a long process," Sanderson said. "So, just want to warn you before people go and be like, you know, expecting Mistborn's movie soon. There's still a lot of work to do, but getting the screenplay done is a huge deal for me. I really like how it turned out. I'm quite proud of it."
Making movies is no small feat, and as Sanderson mentions, it requires a number of big steps. Getting the screenplay done is certainly a big one. I don't think it means that we'll see the Mistborn movie get a ton of major updates in the near future, but you never know how things go behind the scenes. If Apple TV and the powers that be are happy with the script and it shows a lot of promise, things can move quite quickly. It just depends on a lot of factors.
Certainly, Sanderson is also right that this is a big deal. Very rarely are movies made without screenplays, so getting everything on the page, even if there are further revisions to come, sets up the process and allows other steps to start to be taken behind the scenes.
This news shouldn't be a big surprise for fans of his. He's been doing a great job keeping fans updated on the screenplay's progress recently. I love that Sanderson gives so many updates on his various projects, and I also like how he also peels back the curtain on the production process to help keep fans in the loop on how things are going. There are a lot of creators who leave fans in the dark, for one reason or another, and it can create a lot of anxiety about those upcoming projects and their progress.
It's also great to see the Mistborn movie making a lot of progress so quickly after it was announced. Apple TV gave the green light to the Mistborn movie and a TV series based on The Stormlight Archive in January 2026. Mistborn and The Stormlight Archive are projects in Sanderson's larger Cosmere.
Of the upcoming highly anticipated fantasy movies that are actually in the works, there's no doubt that Mistborn is at the top or near the top of that list. The movie will be based on the first book of Sanderson's Misborn book series, Mistborn: The Final Empire. It tells the story of a group of, well, criminals who try to pull off the heist of all heists and start a revolution against the Lord Ruler and Final Empire.
There are already a lot of fan castings happening for the lead roles of Kelsier and Vin, two of the main characters in the series. Nothing has been revealed publicly yet about who they are eyeing for those roles, but hopefully, we'll find out soon.
We'll share more updates about the Mistborn movie as we find out! I don't think it will be too long before Sanderson shares another big update with us, as long as the powers that be at Apple TV are okay with it. Stay tuned!
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