Streaming service Hulu has snapped up the rights to develop a TV adaptation of Stephen King’s epic fantasy novel The Eyes of the Dragon, in what Deadline reports is being eyed as a potential “YA answer to Game of Thrones.”
Published in 1984, The Eyes of the Dragon marked a genre shift for King, who had at that time restricted himself to horror. Taking place in the Kingdom of Delain, it follows the young Prince Peter, who is framed for the murder of his father King Roland by Flagg (of The Stand and The Dark Tower fame), a sorcerer who takes de facto control of the throne and the kingdom through Peter’s younger brother Thomas.
Seth Graheme-Smith (Dark Shadows, The LEGO Batman Movie) has signed on to write the script for the pilot episode of The Eyes of the Dragon, and will serve as showrunner should it make it to series, as well as executive producing with his KatzSmith partner David Katzenberg and Bill Haber, Roy Lee and Jon Berg.
“I am so excited to be working in the world of Stephen King with with Hulu, which has such a terrific track record with Stephen King adaptations,” said Grahame-Smith. “The goal for this series is to feel unlike any Stephen King adaptation before, with this rich underlying source material, and the only true fantasy book he wrote that has kings and swords and princesses. We will honor the spirit of the book and the legacy.”
In addition to The Eyes of the Dragon, a TV adaptation of King’s fantasy masterwork The Dark Tower is also in the works at Amazon, with Sam Strike (Nightflyers) as Roland Deschain and Jasper Paakkonen (BlacKkKlansman) as The Man in Black, a.k.a. Randall Flagg.
