If you’re a fantasy buff, you’ve likely asked yourself why Brandon Sanderson’s gigantic universes—The Stormlight Archive, Mistborn, and the rest of the Cosmere—haven’t yet translated to TV or the movies. With his novels perennially on bestseller lists and fans so devout that they once raised $41 million on Kickstarter to fund his undisclosed novels, you’d have thought Hollywood would’ve pounced by now. But here we are in 2025, and still no word of a Stormlight Archive series or Mistborn film gracing our screens.
So, why the delay? It’s not like no one is interested. This, according to Sanderson himself, “I have had a lot of offers for The Stormlight Archive, people wanting to make prestige television for cable networks or streamers. Very nice offers from very great people that I would want to work with. And I’ve said no because I don’t feel it’s the right time for Stormlight Archive yet.” It’s not about being finicky—he’s just watching what’s going on with the streaming space closely, and honestly, he’s not enjoying where it’s heading.
Studios have been investing big budgets in epic fantasy recently, but it hasn’t worked out so well. Sanderson cites series such as The Rings of Power and The Wheel of Time—both big-budget and high-profile shows that somehow still didn’t quite get the magic or crack into the mainstream like Game of Thrones did. His main worry is the trend of short seasons these days—six or eight episodes at most, which tend to skim over plot and don’t leave much space for character development. And that’s an issue if your arcs are all slow-burning and dependent on the deep emotional relationships between characters, such as Bridge Four, or Shallan and Adolin. Attempting to cram that into a small episode order would deprive the very soul of the story.
And then there’s the fact that the books are just huge. The Way of Kings, the shortest Stormlight Archive novel, is still more than 1,000 pages long. To put it into perspective, Game of Thrones took two complete ten-episode seasons to even get through A Storm of Swords, which is much shorter. Sanderson has even gone so far as to admit that attempting to do The Way of Kings as a movie franchise just wouldn’t be possible—it’s just too big. He’s more willing to attempt doing a Mistborn film series, but that’s a challenging feat, too.
One of the biggest problems with making Mistborn is the magic system. It’s a favorite among fans, but a nightmare for filmmakers. There are three distinct magical systems on Scadrial, each with its own set of rules. The books take a lot of time to describe which metals people are burning and how that impacts the narrative. On the page, no problem. But on screen? Not so easy. A lot of the tension is character-based in terms of them getting low on magical “gas,” which doesn’t always read visually. As ScreenRant summarized, “Portraying internal struggles in images is one of the secrets to bringing books to movies, so hopefully they can make it work.” The magic here isn’t simply visual candy—it’s part of the plan, the risk, and the essence of the characters.
Sanderson isn’t simply holding out for a huge paycheck or a major studio badge. He’s searching for the perfect creative partner—someone with the vision and passion to treat his stories with the same respect Denis Villeneuve afforded Dune. He’s more than happy to walk away from stellar offers if he believes the adaptation wouldn’t do his world justice. He’s also cynical of contemporary streaming tendencies, particularly the increasing phenomenon of “dual-screening,” where audiences watch while scrolling through their phones. Epic fantasy, to him, is worth your undivided attention.
So for the meantime, he’s content to hold back. He’s even testing his toe in smaller projects, such as an animated version of The Tress of the Emerald City of Oz, before giving over his most massive worlds. He’s not concerned about letting his opportunity slip through his fingers. What keeps him up at night is getting it wrong and missing the opportunity to get it right for a very long time. As far as he is concerned, the books aren’t leaving—and neither is the market for rich, detailed fantasy.
So if you’re still waiting to see Kaladin leaping across the Shattered Plains or Vin soaring through the mists of Luthadel, you’re not alone. Sanderson’s just waiting for the right time, the right team, and the right vision. Until that all comes together, the Cosmere is still a place best explored through the pages of his books—for now, at least.