Every filmmaker has a list. It’s the list of stories they would give almost anything to tell if they were ever handed the opportunity. For some directors, it’s a superhero franchise. For others, it’s James Bond, Star Wars, or a favourite novel that has never been adapted. Mine has always been Brandon Sanderson’s Mistborn trilogy. This week, Brandon Sanderson confirmed on his YouTube channel that he has completed the first draft of the Mistborn screenplay. As both a filmmaker and a lifelong fan of fantasy literature, it was exciting news.
It was also strangely bittersweet.
The Fan in Me
Outside of filmmaking, fantasy novels are probably my greatest creative passion. I’ve spent countless hours exploring imaginary worlds, but very few authors have captured my imagination in quite the same way as Brandon Sanderson. His worlds feel vast without ever becoming overwhelming. His characters are deeply human despite inhabiting extraordinary settings, and his magic systems possess a level of internal logic that makes them feel tangible. When Apple TV announced that it had acquired the rights to adapt both Mistborn and The Stormlight Archive, I reacted much like every other Sanderson fan.
I was excited.
The thought of finally seeing Scadrial and Roshar realised on screen is genuinely thrilling. I can’t wait to see how creatures like Mistwraiths, Axehounds and Chasmfiends are brought to life, or how Allomancy and Surgebinding are translated into cinematic language. There are scenes from those books that I’ve wanted to see on screen for years. Heroic moments, heartbreaking conversations, unforgettable reveals, moments that have lived vividly in my imagination ever since I first read them.
As a fan, I simply can’t wait to watch them.
The Filmmaker in Me
But then there’s the other side of me. The filmmaker. For a long time, adapting Mistborn wasn’t just something I hoped somebody would do well.
It was something I secretly hoped I might one day get the chance to do myself.
Specifically, I’ve always imagined adapting the original trilogy: Mistborn, The Well of Ascension, and The Hero of Ages. Those novels mean a tremendous amount to me, not simply because of their world-building, but because of the themes running beneath the spectacle. At its heart, Mistborn is about trust. Vin begins as someone who survives by relying only on herself. Across three novels she gradually learns to trust others, build meaningful relationships, and embrace the idea of community. Those themes resonate with me deeply.
The trilogy also explores class, oppression, power and revolution—subjects that have found their way into many of my own scripts over the years. Looking back, I suspect they’ve influenced my writing more than I realised at the time.
Whenever I reread the books, I don’t just imagine the story. I imagine the film.
Seeing the Film Before It Exists
One of the strange things about reading a book as a filmmaker is that your brain starts directing it automatically. You begin imagining camera movements before chapters have finished. You think about production design while characters are still being introduced. Certain scenes immediately suggest lighting, colour palettes or music. Mistborn has always done that for me.
Over the years I’ve accumulated notebooks full of ideas—not screenplay pages, just thoughts about how I might approach adapting the novels. I always imagined drawing visual inspiration from Francis Ford Coppola’s Bram Stoker’s Dracula alongside Yorgos Lanthimos’ Poor Things. On paper, they might seem like unusual companions, but together they capture something I associate with Scadrial. Dracula‘s moody lighting, theatrical imagery and gothic atmosphere would have provided a wonderful foundation for the oppressive world beneath the ash. Poor Things, meanwhile, demonstrates how stylised production design and restrained colour palettes can make an entirely fictional world feel both strange and believable.
Even the casting had started taking shape in my imagination. I’ve long believed Daniel Kaluuya would make a phenomenal Kelsier. His ability to balance charisma, warmth and quiet intensity feels perfectly suited to the Survivor of Hathsin. David Jonsson has always struck me as an excellent fit for Marsh, while Josh O’Connor would bring something wonderfully unexpected to Breeze. For Vin and Elend, however, I’ve always preferred the idea of discovering relatively unknown actors. Those characters deserve audiences who meet them without years of cinematic baggage attached to familiar faces.
None of these ideas were ever more than daydreams. But they were persistent daydreams.
Learning from the Best
Whenever people ask me about adapting large fantasy novels, my mind almost always returns to Peter Jackson’s The Lord of the Rings trilogy. For me, those films remain one of the greatest examples of adapting beloved source material. Not because they reproduce every chapter perfectly, they don’t, but because they understand what matters most. They capture the emotional journey.
I’ve often thought the original Mistborn trilogy lends itself to a similarly structured adaptation.
Each novel has its own identity while contributing to a larger narrative. Each ending naturally raises the stakes for the next chapter without feeling incomplete. From a screenwriting perspective, they’re remarkably cinematic books. It’s difficult not to start imagining how you’d tackle them.
The Timing of Dreams
Which brings me back to this week’s announcement. Hearing Brandon Sanderson say that the first draft of the screenplay is complete made everything suddenly feel very real. For years, a tiny part of me held onto the idea that perhaps, one day, circumstances might align.
Perhaps after a few successful films.
Perhaps after building a stronger portfolio.
Perhaps after establishing myself within the industry.
Maybe there would be an opportunity to pitch a vision for Mistborn. Now, that possibility feels considerably more distant. Not because the films are impossible. Quite the opposite. They’re finally happening. The reality is that I’m still early in my directing career.
I’ve directed one feature film, Sock, made on a micro-budget with an incredible team of talented people. I’m immensely proud of what we’ve achieved together, but I’m also realistic enough to recognise where I currently sit within the industry.
Studios don’t usually hand billion-pound fantasy franchises to directors with a single independent feature behind them.
Nor should they.
These films deserve someone with the experience to deliver them at the scale they require.
Dreams Change
Surprisingly, I’m not writing this because I’m disappointed. If anything, I’m grateful that I had the dream in the first place. Creative ambitions don’t always need to become reality to be valuable. Sometimes they simply give you something to aim towards.
My dream of directing Mistborn encouraged me to think about visual storytelling in new ways. It made me analyse why those books affected me so deeply and what kind of filmmaker I wanted to become. Those lessons remain, even if the opportunity never arrives.
Who knows? Perhaps one day I’ll have the chance to adapt another fantasy series that means just as much to someone else. Or perhaps I’ll end up creating worlds of my own that inspire future filmmakers in the same way Mistborn inspired me.
That, after all, is the goal.
In the meantime, I’ll be joining everyone else when the adaptation finally arrives.
Not as the director.
Simply as a fan who’s waited a very long time to see the mists come alive on screen.
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