The original Mistborn trilogy is one of the most popular fantasy stories of the century, but a film adaptation would face certain challenges. In August 2022 on a live stream, author Brandon Sanderson announced serious progress toward a film adaptation, saying, “I would be surprised if we are not on set doing things this time next year.” While this was an exciting and promising announcement, progress appears to have been halted by the WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes. Sanderson has since taken to Reddit to ensure fans that the Mistborn movie will still happen, though there’s no definitive timeline. In the meantime, there’s plenty of room to hypothesize about the film.
The author’s popularity reached new heights in 2022 and 2023. Brandon Sanderson’s record-breaking Kickstarter allowed for the “Year of Sanderson,” an event where fans who supported the project would receive early access to four brand-new novels throughout 2023. Three of the novels, including the recently released The Sunlit Man, are a part of his fictional universe known as “The Cosmere.” Mistborn is an integral part of the Cosmere and a beloved novel series, so a faithful adaptation that pleases dedicated book readers is essential.
8 The Magic System Will Be Hard To Bring To Live-Action
Allomancy and the tangential magic systems of Mistborn can be visually stunning in its fast-paced, acrobatic form of combat. The challenges of adapting the fantastic magic system would be visualizing emotional Allomancy as well as the metal reserves of each combatant. Allomancy requires its users to burn metals, meaning their powers are limited by the physical intake of each ability’s corresponding metal. Some of the tightest situations Vin finds herself in revolve around her being low on metals, which would be a challenge to communicate without wonky expository dialogue.
7 The Magic System May Be Confusing For The Average Viewer
The Mistborn books come equipped with an Ars Arcanum glossary that helps explain the usage of each metal in Allomancy. Brandon Sanderson also holds the reader’s hand by helpfully reminding them of each metal’s usage throughout the novels. Without this exposition, the nuances of Allomancy may get lost in a film adaptation, as keeping track of each power and its source metal could throw off the pacing of action sequences and be too much to explain in the first place. This is another reason why the involvement of Kelsier’s crew is on the Mistborn movie wishlist, as each crew member exposes the reader to a different Allomantic power.
6 Mistborn’s Creatures Will Require CGI
While the first Mistborn book can be adapted with limited CGI if practical effects are used for the combat, The Well of Ascension gets much trickier with the involvement of more CGI creatures. OreSeur, the Kandra, would require a talking wolfhound to follow Vin around the film, and the Koloss army plays a huge role in the novel’s conflict and climactic war sequence. The Koloss would require tons of CGI work as they’re ginormous creatures that arrive in thousands. The Inquisitors are the only creatures that can be successfully portrayed with makeup and prosthetics.
5 Mistborn’s Narrative Requires Lots Of Exposition
Aside from just the magic system, Brandon Sanderson tends to share information through internal character thoughts and scholarly exploration. One of the most beautiful aspects of the novels is exploring the world through the character’s perceptions. Mistborn is a story told through differing thought processes, with characters like Vin, Elend, and Sazed each experiencing different barriers as they grow to perceive different situations. Vin’s arc of overcoming trust issues is primarily internal in the novel but something the film could explore through conversations with Kelsier and Elend. Casting actors for Mistborn who can portray those nuances through body language, facial expression, and intonation is essential to the story.
4 Mistborn Can’t Be A Two-Hour Movie
Mistborn: The Final Empire is a 200,000+ word book. To fully embrace the novel’s story and world-building, a film adaptation should accept a long length. The Lord of the Rings films are the best fantasy adaptations out there because they embrace the epic nature of their novels. The Mistborn novels could easily work as TV seasons, so trying to trim them down to a two-hour run time could strip important aspects of the story. Brandon Sanderson’s magic systems may be great, but limiting Mistborn to a two-hour magical action movie would be a huge disappointment, as character work is his true strength.
3 Mistborn Would Launch The Cosmere
With a studio’s acquisition of Brandon Sanderson’s works, the idea of launching a connected fantasy universe akin to the MCU with the Cosmere may be tempting. The Cosmere fantasy book universe manages to find the perfect balance of allowing for individual stories and rewarding readers who’ve read every series and can point out connections. This puts pressure on the Mistborn film, as it may make a studio focus on the larger universe aspect, disrupting that balance. A Mistborn film should cast Hoid for developing the Cosmere later on, but it should be as subtle as it is in the novel.
2 Some Of Mistborn’s Best Scenes Aren’t Cinematic
Expanding on the idea of exposition, many of Mistborn’s most exciting scenes explore the central mystery: the origins of the Lord Ruler. The story of Alendi and the Lord Ruler is essential to Mistborn’s ending and the sequels, but it’s mainly explored in smaller pieces through the translation of Alendi’s logbook. Game of Thrones season 1 proved an exciting scene can be made out of a character obtaining information from a history book. Still, the Mistborn film would have to avoid overdoing it, instead finding other organic ways to provide the historical exposition and limiting the scenes characters spend hauled up in the library.
1 The Mistborn World Requires CGI
A budgeting problem Brandon Sanderson’s adaptations will face in both Mistborn and The Stormlight Archive is the unique nature of his worlds. Mistborn will require mist and ash falling from the sky. The many castles of Luthadel, especially the spires of Kredik Shaw, will also require computer effects to bring to life. The series has a particular gothic look that would need to be translated on screen to demonstrate the oppressive nature of the Lord Ruler and the bleak, colorless world he’s built, and the environment of mist and ash play a role in the overarching narrative with Ruin and Preservation.
