Red Rising author Pierce Brown has faith that the Hollywood film adaptation of his popular novels will follow the same strategy as The Lord of the Rings. The Red Rising series has sold millions of copies across its six releases and has been a popular pick for a screen adaptation. Since the first book's release in 2014, it's been a long road to bring Red Rising to the screen, with several failed adaptations along the way, but now there's renewed hope in the latest announcement.
In mid October, news broke that Paramount Pictures had acquired the film rights to Brown's Red Rising novel and had attached The Hunger Games franchise filmmaker, Francis Lawrence, to direct, with Justin Rhodes writing the script. With both film and series adaptations of Red Rising having fallen apart in the past, fans are rightly skeptical about whether this one will be any different. However, Brown had some reassuring words during his recent book tour across the UK.
As shared by @george.andthedragons on TikTok, Brown spoke to fans about the new film adaptation of Red Rising and how it differs from past attempts to adapt the book to the screen. Brown noted that he had previously "got a little arrogant" about the adaptation process, wanting "every scene to be represented [and] every character to be represented."
He went on to explain that over the years he was afforded "enough dignity to protect the series," and only wanted to make it with his "found family." Brown said that he considered Francis Lawrence one of those found family members and together they've added more members to their team.
Collectively, Brown said that they "all believe the best adaptation is Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings." Brown attributed The Lord of the Rings' success to Jackson's love for the source material, explaining, "he is in love with what Lord of the Rings means to him."
"It allowed me enough dignity to protect the series and say, ‘I’m not gonna make this until I have my found family.’ Because I wanted the movie to be made in the same way that I have learned how important found family was, and the director I'm working with now, Francis Lawrence, we've been friends for 8 years. We tried for 5 years to make it into a TV show and then we pulled back and I said, ‘I’m not taking any meetings.’ And then, I found another family member we added to it and another family member.
And the thing is, they all believed that the best adaptation is Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings, and I think it's because he's not projecting Peter Jackson, he's not trying to become famous, he's not taking an opportunity to become wealthy. He’s trying to do justice to the thing that got him through the hardship of youth. He is in love with what Lord of the Rings means to him."
Peter Jackson directed both the Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit trilogies and has remained an overseer of J.R.R. Tolkien's franchise, serving as an executive producer on the upcoming The Lord of the Rings: The Hunt for Gollum film. Jackson's name has become synonymous with the fantasy franchise, and his vision ushered The Lord of the Rings trilogy to 30 Academy Award nominations.
This deep love and respect for the franchise is something Brown is also looking for in his collaborators on this movie, telling fans, "Hopefully we do the same thing with Red Rising." The author said he personally took the picking of his collaborators seriously, and believes he has "[found] the right people"
"And so, we presented it as such and hopefully we do the same thing with Red Rising. We've done everything we can to secure that to the point, but here's the thing, I moved to LA not because I like sunshine. I moved there to find the right people and through the evolution of the series I've been able to find the right people. So if we screw up, it's because we have bad taste."
Brown's dystopian sci-fi novels are set on Mars, in a future in which society is divided into a class system based on color, with Golds at the top and Reds on the bottom. The story follows Darrow, a Red who decides to infiltrate the upper classes and bring the whole thing down. Brown's vision has spanned six novels to date, with a seventh one planned.
Can Red Rising Copy The Lord of the Rings' Strategy?
While it's still too early to tell whether Brown's strategy for Red Rising's film adaptation will pay off, the love that Jackson had for The Lord of the Rings paid dividends for the movies, helping them become one of the most successful fantasy film franchises of all time. Taking a page out of that playbook, choosing collaborators with a deep love and knowledge of the source material seems a wise choice and could help Red Rising do the same thing in the sci-fi space.
Red Rising may not have been around nearly as long as Tolkien's novels have, but the love for the dystopian books is strong, and both IPs share similarities in terms of their expansive worldbuilding, creativity, and scope. Fans have long wanted to see an adaptation of Red Rising done right, and the stars finally seem to be aligning.
The pairing of Lawrence with the sci-fi franchise seems a solid choice, particularly given the director's deep history with the dystopian genre, having directed five Hunger Games films. Lawrence also has experience with book adaptations, having brought Stephen King's The Long Walk to the screen in 2025. Adding to Brown's found family team is Justin Rhodes, who has experience writing for the Terminator franchise and Prime Video's gaming anthology Secret Level, as well as the long-gestating BioShock movie, all of which make the writer a strong pick for a dystopian sci-fi story like Red Rising.
The best Hollywood adaptations have always grown out of love and respect for the original franchise, and if Brown's trust in his collaborators on Red Rising is anything to go by, fans could finally receive the movie franchise they've been dreaming of.
