The Mistborn movie is getting so much closer to reality. In his latest weekly video update, author Brandon Sanderson shared the exciting news that the screenplay for the planned Apple TV film adaptation of Mistborn has now reached 80% complete, a jump from 72% the week before. The progress is the result of Sanderson writing the script as his primary full-time work, a commitment he made when the Apple TV deal was announced earlier this year.
The numbers have been climbing fast since he began from 2% in February, to 50% by April, to 72%, and now 80%. The plan is to deliver the finished screenplay to Apple during summer 2026.
"Mistborn screenplay, where am I? I'm at bing! 80%," Sanderson said in his latest update. The jump from last week's 72% came despite him spending significant time on Act 1 revisions rather than pushing forward on entirely new pages. As he explained the week prior, "I've been doing a lot of revisions on Act 1. I just want to get that into shape. There's some things I'm wanting to do, just some tweaks and some edits. That's what I've been spending my time on this week."
He also shared that progress will likely slow down for the next few weeks. Sanderson is heading to London imminently for a busy stretch of public appearances, including a spotlight panel at MCM London Comic Con on Saturday May 23, a pop-up shop at the Forbidden Planet Mega Store and a sold-out speech at Oxford. He has confirmed he intends to record his weekly update from Forbidden Planet while he's there so fans can expect to hear more on the screenplay's progress once he's back at his desk.
What the Mistborn movie will be about
If you haven't read the books, here's what the film will likely be based on.
Mistborn: The Final Empire (2006) is the first book in Sanderson's beloved Mistborn series. The story follows a group of thieves who use a unique magic system called Allomancy to challenge a powerful empire that has ruled for a thousand years.
The world is a dark, ash-covered place ruled by an immortal tyrant called the Lord Ruler, who has kept the lower class, the Skaa, oppressed for a millennium. The story's two central characters are Kelsier, a charismatic and daring criminal mastermind, and Vin, a young, half-Skaa girl who has survived the brutal underworld by being quiet and trusting no one.
The magic system, Allomancy, is one of the most inventive in modern fantasy. Unlike most Allomancers called Mistings, who can burn only one of the eight base metals, a Mistborn can burn them all, making them incredibly powerful assassins and spies. Each metal does something different: pewter enhances physical strength, tin sharpens the senses, iron and steel let you push and pull on metal objects.
Sanderson has previously said he intends the film to focus heavily on Vin, Kelsier, and a scholar-nobleman named Elend Venture, keeping the story tight enough to work as a single feature film.
Brandon Sanderson retaining maximum creative control for Mistborn and Stormlight adaptation
The Mistborn screenplay exists thanks to a landmark deal struck between Brandon Sanderson and Apple TV at the start of 2026. Apple TV acquired the rights to bring Sanderson's Cosmere universe to the screen with Sanderson retaining creative control over the adaptations, including serving as a writer, producer and consultant, and having approval over casting. That level of control is nearly unheard of for an author in a Hollywood deal.
The goal is to adapt the Mistborn novel as a feature-length movie and The Stormlight Archive series as a streaming TV show. He will not only write the Mistborn screenplay but will also serve as co-showrunner on the Stormlight series.
"I will be writing the Mistborn screenplay myself over the next 5 months, as my full time work. Goal is for a theatrical Mistborn, then Stormlight show after. Focus on doing it carefully and right," Sanderson said when the deal was first announced.
This does mean his time has been stretched. In his latest update, Sanderson acknowledged he has been spending a lot of time on Hollywood work, and that this will cause a brief stall on some of his book projects while he is traveling to London. But he was clear that this was always the plan and that he deliberately built extra time into his publishing schedule to accommodate the screenplay work.
On the book side, Sanderson assured again during this week's update that his next Mistborn novel Ghostbloods, the first book of Era 3, is still on track for a December 2028 release with sequels following annually. The screenplay work has not pushed that back.
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