In the planning stages for some time (first at Warner Bros. and now at Walt Disney Pictures), a big screen adaptation of T.A. Barron‘s The Merlin Saga is, according to Deadline, moving forward with the addition of Academy Award-winning screenwriter Philippa Boyens. No stranger to the worlds of literary fantasy, Boyens is best known for working with Peter Jackson and Fran Walsh on all six Middle-earth films as well as on King Kong and The Lovely Bones.
Published in 1996, The Lost Years of Merlin launched Barron’s popular book series.
“A raging sea tosses a boy upon the shores of ancient Wales,” reads the book’s official description. “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.
The Lost Years of Merlin was the first of a dozen books in Barron’s Merlin Saga. It was followed by The Seven Songs in 1997, The Raging Fires in 1998, The Mirror of Fate in 1999, A Wizard’s Wings in 2000, The Great Tree of Avalon in 2004, Shadows on the Stars in 2005, The Eternal Flame in 2006, The Dragon of Avalon in 2008, Doomraga’s Revenge in 2009, Ultimate Magic in 2010 and, The Book of Magic Illustrated Treasury in 2011.
John Zinman and Patrick Masset were previously attached to script The Merlin Saga.
“Since this film will be based on my ‘Merlin Saga,’ they have been very inclusive of me in this process,” Barron previously wrote on his official site. “All of us want this film to be true to the authentic young wizard who has captured the hearts of people everywhere. In addition, the people at Disney have been the best studio partners imaginable—hugely helpful in every way. I couldn’t be more excited!”
You can watch Baron discuss The Merlin Saga in the player below:
