Brandon Sanderson Slams ‘Rings of Power’ & Netflix Not Listening to ‘The Witcher’s Henry Cavill

https://movieweb.com/fantasy-brandon-sanderson-slams-rings-of-power-netflix-witcher-henry-cavill/

13 comments

  2. Why does every article have to say “slams” when something is disparaged? It makes me not want to give them a click.

  3. Save the click:

    “Streaming has had a big problem with epic fantasy, and this has me worried. Rings of Power and Wheel of Time have not gone as well as I would’ve hoped. Shadow and Bone lasted only two seasons, after a very strong first season. Streaming hasn’t figured out epic fantasy yet.

    Maybe this is a holdover from network television days, where they’re trying to make the episodes fit into the structure of how episodic television used to work, rather than filming an eight-hour movie and showing it in chunks. But maybe that’s a bad idea. All I know is, right now we haven’t seen really great epic fantasy film television since the early, mid seasons of Game of Thrones. Fifty million dollars per episode has not done it, so it’s not a matter of the money they’re throwing at it. The other thing we haven’t seen is any of these shows really taking off to the extent that I would like with the general public.”

    “I would absolutely pick Stormlight, and I would do it on one of the streaming services. With an unlimited budget and unlimited creative control, I think I could make something really good. But who knows? I mean, The Rings of Power essentially had that, and it’s not very good. It’s fine, but is it the thing that you want? I mean, I really think the key member is that visionary filmmaker. Epic fantasy has responded poorly to too much oversight from above. I think that was The Witcher’s problem. You had that visionary: It was Henry Cavill. And they didn’t want to listen to him. So, well, there you go.”

  4. eventually scott lynch will be adapted and it will be a huge hit. Only a colossal idiot could screw up that first book.

  5. Anyone that uses “slammed” in their title is half-measure journalist.

    I get what he’s trying to say, but ROP season 2 was fucking lit, and I will not hear anything to the contrary

  7. TBF, I thought the Annatar/Celebrimbor material in Season 2 of RoP was absolutely brilliant. Genuinely Peter Jackson level performances and visuals (practical lighting effects and staging to transition between illusion and reality).

  8. Would have thought mentioning Wheel of time would have been a bigger deal than Witcher and rings of power

    Sanderson actually wrote some of those

  9. The Witcher went down hill almost immediately after Season 1. I’d be curious to actually sit down with Cavill and discuss his nerd passions like Witcher and Warhammer.

    I know nothing about either of them (outside of playing the Witcher 3), but having someone that can’t budge on certain things can be difficult for creators. That being said, the interviews with the Witcher showrunners made it seem like Cavill was 100% in the right.

    I haven’t seen Wheel of Time but I think Rings of Power (especially season 2) gets way too much hate from book purists. Idk, I think Rings of Power and House of the Dragon (post strike) are on the up and up.

  10. He’s certainly got the money/resources to produce it himself so…

  11. If Sanderson had unlimited creative control and unlimited funds that just means we’d get 6-8 mediocre to sub par episodes of television. Then 2-3 episodes of crazy bonkers episodes to finish out the season.

  12. Going from Successful book to screen is 1000-1 and going from screen to critical and commercial success is 1000-1. So it’s a million to 1 chance. I admire Sandersons tenacity in the face of those odds, you miss all the chances you do not take.

  13. Henry Cavill is an amazing actor. I never realized it because I skipped his Superman and Justice League movies. But, wow! I was hooked once I saw him in The Witcher.

    Smart and a lot of depth.

Comments are closed.