It continues to sound as if Ridley Scott won’t be back for any future outings in the ‘Alien’ franchise and the busy director may have found his next project! This time around it seems he’s eyeing a new set of books to adapt to the big screen for Disney titled “The Merlin Saga.” The series itself was penned by T.A. Barron and is a 12-book saga though can easily be broken up into smaller installments.

This could be the start of a huge franchise that has the ability to rival ‘Lord of the Rings’ in scope and surpass it in length. At this time, it sounds as if the plan is to adapt the first two novels (likely into a single film) with Oscar-winning screenwriter Philippa Boyens tapped to write the script. Scott’s company Scott Free is working to produce with Gil Netter and Tendo Nagenda and Foster Driver are overseeing the project.

As to what the story is about? Below is the synopsis of the very first book in the series titled ‘Merlin: The Lost Years’:

The Saga begins …
A raging sea tosses a boy upon the shores of ancient Wales. Left for dead, he has no memory, no name, and no home. But it is his determination to find out who he is—to learn the truth about his mysterious powers—that leads him to a strange and enchanted land. And it is there he discovers that the fate of this land and his personal quest are strangely entwined.

Details are out for the second book as well which Barron’s page claims is being part of the film,  though we’ll keep that separate for now as there is always a chance that the second bok will end up as a second film with how early into pre-production things currently stand. That and the synopsis of the novel alone would prove to be a spoiler of how the first installment pans out.

It sounds like Disney isn’t just committing to this series though as they are also working on a live-action take on the “Sword in the Stone” story. The set of novels are clearly different enough to not cause any confusion and long enough to be made into something else entirely.

Sources: Variety, T.A. Barron