A Darker Shade of Magic – TV Series!?

Some exciting news landed on our desks today: V.E. Schwab’s A Darker Shade Of Magic, which we named as one of our best books of 2015, has been picked up for a television adaption.

Interestingly, the production company who has acquired the rights are the same people as are behind London Has Fallen, the sequel to a film that we really enjoyed and are glad is getting a followup, Olympus Has Fallen. In what feels like a good move, V.E. Schwab revealed that she had been invited to write the pilot with Gerard Butler, Alan Siegel and Danielle Robinson producing. Victoria added through Twitter that the process of adaption took her around 6 months.

For those unfamiliar, A Darker Shade of Magic features four parallel worlds with four parallel Londons. Each of these have different societies, rulers and histories, and a different view on magic. Kell is able to travel between these worlds and works to help the rulers of each London keep in contact with one another. Kell’s desire to make a bit of extra currency though tempts him into selling glimpses of unimaginable worlds. When Kell is forced to flee, but quickly runs into a cut-purse with aspirations that send him down another dangerous path of ‘adventure’.

On paper, the extensive, intricate world-building and the complexity of the multiple parallel Universes sounds like a challenge for a short television show, but in reality, we think it will work out pretty well. We imagine some views of the four contrasting Londons followed by a view of Kell moving between them speaking with the rulers of each – who are all very different. Once that has been set up then the dynamic between the characters and the pacing (full of twists and turns) will be perfect for a ‘limited series’.

In a message to fans, Victoria said: “Seriously. I am here because you are here. I get to keep writing because you keep reading. I get to try new things because you believe in me.”

We can’t wait. Congratulations to Victoria, who also has her novel Vicious being worked on by Alexander Felix with the view of it becoming a movie in the future.

Print Friendly