Paramount sets Red Rising adaptation with Francis Lawrence
Paramount has acquired the film rights to the widely read Red Rising saga, and Francis Lawrence is set to helm an adaptation of the opening installment. Justin Rhodes is handling screenplay duties, working from Pierce Brown's 2014 debut. Producers include Lawrence and Cameron MacConomy through About.Blank, together with Francesco Goedhuis, while Brown takes an executive producer role.[S1][S2][S3][S4][S5][S6][S7][S8]
The narrative unfolds in a futuristic setting where humans have settled other worlds and rank people by color within a rigid hierarchy. Reds, who live in poverty, toil as forced laborers in Martian mines, whereas the physically powerful Golds hold dominion over the solar system and battle among themselves. The saga centers on Darrow of Lykos, a miner who endures a devastating loss and becomes part of a rebel scheme for vengeance against the Golds. Through a harsh process he is remade into a Gold and enters a military academy with other young people who face testing before ascending to the top Gold tiers.[S1]
Six novels have been published so far, among them Golden Son, Morning Star, Iron Gold, Dark Age and Lightbringer, and an upcoming seventh volume titled Red God will conclude the saga.[S1]
Lawrence brings Hunger Games experience to new franchise
Adapting well-liked young adult fiction is familiar territory for Lawrence. He directed all of the Hunger Games films, among them the 2023 release The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes and the prequel Sunrise on the Reaping arriving next month. He also helmed The Long Walk, last year's adaptation of a Stephen King work.[S1]
Lawrence is represented by CAA, Gretchen Rush at Hansen Jacobson and ID. Brown is represented by CAA, Hannah Bowman at Liza Dawson Associates for publishing and Dave Feldman at Brecheen Feldman Breimer Silver & Thompson. Rhodes is represented by CAA, Adam Kolbrenner at Lit Entertainment and Eric Suddleson at Toczek Suddleson.[S1]
The Hollywood Reporter first broke the news.[S1]
