Last night, The Hollywood Reporter broke the news that Sony Pictures has acquired the film rights to Hierarchy, the Roman Empire-inspired fantasy series from James Islington. The latest book in the series, The Strength of the Few, just came out earlier this month, and has been making some serious waves in the fantasy book space. It debuted at number 1 on the New York Times Bestseller list, and topped lists in Canada and the UK as well. Suffice to say, it feels like Sony is catching the series' momentum at just the right moment.
As of right now, no filmmaker or producer is attached to the Hierarchy movie, but hopefully we hear more progress on the project as we head into 2026. Any time a popular fantasy series breaks through and gets this kind of attention is amazing in my book, especially when it's an instance like this where it's an author who has been so popular in die-hard fantasy reader circles for a while, but has seemingly gone under the mainstream radar.
Islington has been steadily gaining fans since the release of his first trilogy, Licanius, which he originally self-published the first volume of before going on to release the rest of the series via a traditional book deal. Hierarchy has elevated the popularity of his work to a whole different level. The first Hierarchy book, The Will of the Many, came out in 2023 and was extremely well-received. The Strength of the Few is gaining even more momentum, even as it breaks into some far bolder territory story-wise than its predecessor that would be fascinating to see on screen.
If this is the first you're hearing about Hierarchy, now's a good time to get more familiar before this series explodes even more in popularity. The story follows Vis Telimus, a young man who infiltrates the prestigious Academy of the Catenan Empire (a.k.a. the Hierarchy) in hopes of bringing it all down from the inside. Vis holds a dangerous secret, which would spell his death if it were found out by any of those around him. But by acting subservient, and agreeing to allows his energy — his "will" — to be sapped by the empire as part of his future role as a good citizen, Vis secures his place and begins a journey which tests him to his abolute limits.
The Strength of the Few continues Vis' tale, while introducing some even more mind-bending elements via the inclusion of a Labyrinth, which in turn brings in a multiversal element with multiple worlds — and multiple versions of Vis — struggling to navigate that deadly next stages of his fight against the Hierarchy.
We'll have our ear to the ground for more updates about the Hierarchy movie, so stay tuned. In the meantime, The Strength of the Few is out now from Saga Press, wherever books are sold.
If you've already read it and want to dig even deeper into the world of the Hierarchy, check out our exclusive interview with James Islington about the new book, as well as our review of The Strength of the Few.