If you’ve been patiently (or not so patiently) waiting for the next Discworld book to hit the big screen, then your wait is over! The Jim Henson Company, creators of some of the best fantasy movies ever, The Dark Crystal, Labyrinth, MirrorMask and more, have joined up with Narrativia, Sir Terry Pratchett’s production company, to bring the Tiffany Aching story, The Wee Free Men, to life!
Here’s an excerpt from Narrativia’s press release. You can read the whole thing here.
The Jim Henson Company announced today the development of a feature film based on the great literary legacy of the late Sir Terry Pratchett’s The Wee Free Men, part of the wildly popular Discworld series. The long-awaited film adaption will be written by his daughter Rhianna Pratchett, an award-winning scriptwriter for videogames, comics, film and TV. Her work includes the 2013 smash hit reboot of Tomb Raider, the BAFTA nominated Heavenly Sword and the Writers’ Guild winning Overload and Rise of the Tomb Raider. Pratchett, co-director of independent production company Narrativia, has regularly been named one of the top 100 most influential women in the games industry and won the Women in Games Hall of Fame award in 2013.
The Wee Free Men is the first in a series of Discworld novels starring the young witch Tiffany Aching. A nightmarish danger threatens from the other side of reality. Armed with only a frying pan and her common sense, the young witch-to-be must defend her home against the monsters of Fairyland.
Luckily she has some very unusual help: the local Nac Mac Feegles—aka the Wee Free Men—a clan of fierce, sheep-stealing, sword-wielding, six-inch-high blue men. Together they must face headless horsemen, ferocious grimhounds, terrifying dreams come true, and ultimately the most powerful force of all – the Queen.
Brian Henson of The Jim Henson Company will serve as producer. Rhianna Pratchett, Rob Wilkins and Rod Brown of Narrativia and Vince Raisa of The Jim Henson Company, will serve as executive producers. WEE FREE MEN is a co-production with Narrativia.
“I’ve loved the Jim Henson Company’s work all my life, so it’s a great honor to team up with them and bring Wee Free Men to the big screen.” said writer Rhianna Pratchett.
“As a family owned company, we fully understand the importance of legacy properties,” said Brian Henson, Chairman of The Jim Henson Company. “The Discworld series is a richly developed world with devoted fans, myself included, and there is no one better than Rhianna to bring Terry’s beloved project to life on the big screen.”
Super excited for this! I’m sure with the amount of talent behind it, the movie will be amazing!
Yes!
I was really disappointed when that Disney Mort film fell through so I’m excited to see the series getting another shot at the big screen.