Two current trends in Hollywood movies are superheroes and YA post-apocalyptic novel adaptations. So a surefire winner would have to be a YA novel that’s about a post-apocalyptic world caused by super-powered beings, right? That’s what 20th Century Fox is betting on with the YA series ‘The Reckoners’ by author Brandon Sanderson. Fox optioned the trilogy earlier this year and just a couple days ago they announced that Carter Blanchard will be adapting a screenplay for ‘Steelheart,’ the first book in the series. Blanchard’s name should sound somewhat familiar, as he is the writer of the screenplay for ‘Independence Day: Resurgence.’ ‘Steelheart’ is being produced by Shawn Levy (producer and director of the ‘Night at the Museum’ series, among a ton of other things) and there is some speculation he may direct as well.
‘The Reckoners’ takes place in a world where super-powered humans, called Epics, are a reality, but they are all villains, no exceptions. They’ve taken over the world and rule over most of it in a chaotic mess of city-states. The books follow the Reckoners, a group of normal humans who dedicate themselves to finding the weaknesses of all Epics, so they can kill them. In ‘Steelheart,’ one of the most powerful Epics in the world is the eponymous Epic who is basically an evil Superman and rules over Chicago with an iron fist. (Pun intended.) David, the newest member of the Reckoners, is the only person still alive to have seen Steelheart bleed. Despite that, David still doesn’t know what Steelheart’s weakness is, but since Steelheart murdered his father when David was just eight years old, he’s determined to figure it out.
There’s obviously no date for the movie yet at this point, but the first two books (‘Steelheart’ and ‘Firefight’) and a short story interlude between them (‘Mitosis’) are out right now, so go read them if you want to learn what all the hubbub is about.
So what do you think? Are you interested in yet another, albeit rather unique, YA novel adaptation? Have you read the Reckoners stories yet? Let us know in the comments below.
