Fantasy Novelist Brandon Sanderson Ties Up with FremantleMedia

FremantleMedia North America (FMNA), with Random House Studio, has struck up a partnership with the best-selling fantasy novelist Brandon Sanderson.

Sanderson’s Dark One property is being adapted into a multimedia experience, including a TV series and a graphic novel that will be published by Vault Comics. Sanderson is also penning a supplementary, multi-volume book series that will expand on the storyline from the show and further explore subsidiary characters. A Dark One podcast will shed further light on the incidents leading up to where the TV series will begin.

Dark One will be a dramatic fantasy adventure spotlighting a young man who sees visions of strange and fantastical worlds, which he is told are just hallucinations. But this dark and deadly fantasy world that keeps coming to him is actually a real vision of another world—one where he has been prophesied to become a tyrant and destroy this land of interesting creatures, sporadic electrical currents and a darkening landscape.

Sanderson commented: “I’m used to painting a picture in words. Dark One came to life when I freed myself to think of it as a project for actual visual media, with the setting, characters and outline all coming together. I’m excited to be able to partner with FremantleMedia North America and Random House Studio on this for television.”

“Brandon Sanderson is a powerful storyteller and one of the world’s most admired fantasy writers,” said Dante Di Loreto, president of scripted entertainment at FremantleMedia North America. “The narrative of Dark One will examine the dual roles we often take on in life—the ability to be a savior as well as a destroyer, and this innovative creative partnership with Brandon will serve as a catalyst for deepening the connection between him and his many fans.”

“Brandon Sanderson is one of the most exciting storytellers within the enormous group of authors published by the Penguin Random House group,” said Peter Gethers, executive VP and general manager at Random House Studio. “We are thrilled to be working with him to create one of his extraordinary worlds for a television audience for the first time.”