Looks like Paramount’s found yet another property to put on film, with the latest pick being Pierce Brown’s Red Rising novel.
Per the Hollywood Reporter, Hunger Games alum Francis Lawrence will helm a live-action adaptation. Scripting duties go to Justin Rhodes, who’s already working with Lawrence on the BioShock adaptation for Netflix. (It’ll happen someday, honest!) The film marks the latest book adaptation under Lawrence’s belt—along with the recent Hunger Games movies, he also directed last year’s Long Walk—and the newest sci-fi outing for Rhodes. His previous credits include Terminator: Dark Fate, plus Robocop Returns and the Unreal Tournament and Warhammer 40K episodes of Prime Video’s Secret Level.
Red Rising released in 2014 and takes place on a dystopian Mars. Low-status laborers mine the planet for helium-3 fuel so humanity can terraform it into a livable world. Eighteen-year-old Darrow is one such miner, and after being publicly whipped, he goes on a revenge quest against the planet’s ruler, Nero Augustus. To do that, he’ll throw in with the local rebels to infiltrate the high society as a Gold-status member—color determines one’s status in society, and by extension their role and physical traits.
After the first novel was well-received by critics and audiences, Brown expanded Rising into a series spanning a trilogy and separate tetraology. This also isn’t the first time Hollywood’s been interested in the book; Universal picked up the rights in 2014, but nothing came of it. Brown tried doing a TV show in 2018 and 2021, but neither of those gained any traction, either.
We’ll see if this time’s the charm should more Red Rising news emerge in the coming months and years.
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