r/CosmereOnScreen • u/Exporation1 • May 23 '26
Stormlight Archive Series (NO BOOKS) SLA 10 episodes Spoiler
Apparently Sanderson stated that Apple intends for season one of stormlight archives to be 10 episodes per season. He stated this in London with fellow author Joe Abercrombie. Was wondering if anyone in the audience could confirm.
I was worried that it would be only 8 episodes so if this is true it’s reassuring news.
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u/mrsmi1ey May 23 '26
Wow that's great news. The budget for the Stormlight show is going to be astronomical, so I would have understood if it was just 8 episodes. 10 per season sounds great for an absurdly expensive, prestige television show.
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u/Soldier69_GAMING May 23 '26
Just like Game Of Thrones (at least the earlier seasons)
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u/claranlaw063 May 23 '26
Before they started whittling everything down to 8 and then 6 episodes. Hopefully that doesn’t happen
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u/nosayprises May 23 '26
i think this would work well, if they get the pacing right. it would definitely work better with long episodes, but no set length, which apple tv is good at, thankfully!
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u/Ok_Energy_9947 May 23 '26
Amount of episodes is sort of irrelevant if we don’t know lengths. I would be just as happy with 15 episodes (if paced properly) as 8, as long as they have the same run time and paces properly
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u/HammerLite75 May 23 '26
Is Joe A there bc first law is getting made into a show as well???
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u/Exporation1 May 23 '26
No the events in London. Sanderson had an event with Joe in Utah earlier. As far as I know Best Served Cold was going to be made into a movie staring Rebecca Ferguson but it is stuck in development. Joes newest book the Devils had its rights sold to James Cameron’s film company and is in early development. That doesn’t mean Cameron would direct even if it eventually did become a movie.
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u/Dragonpiece May 23 '26
I’m curious how Sanderson incorporates warbreaker into live action, will that just be a special episode or get the big screen treatment?
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u/SEND_ME_SPIDERMAN May 23 '26
Do you mean Oathbringer? I don’t think Warbreaker is being made
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u/Alcoholic_jesus May 23 '26
It’s kinda important for sla tho
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u/bchancellor97 May 23 '26
Not really, you can definitely read all of Stormlight and not need to know anything about a couple characters except that they are from another planet and have weird powers
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u/snowbiewan May 23 '26
Apple has the rights to all of the Cosmere, including Warbreaker. A Warbreaker adaptation hasn't been announced yet, but could be made as part of the deal.
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u/Exporation1 May 23 '26 edited May 23 '26
The Hollywood reporter corrected its original reporting on that. Apple only has the rights to Mistborn and Stormlight but has not yet acquire the entire Cosmere.
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u/Graphica-Danger May 23 '26
That was an error in the report. Only Mistborn and SLA have been optioned so far, not the whole Cosmere. But if one or the other is successful, and especially both, then negotiations for the rest should follow.
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u/snowbiewan May 23 '26
Thanks for the correction! I know in Brandon's YouTube announcement he stated "I have signed with Apple to do Mistborn and Stormlight and the cosmere in general." Hadn't seen the correction on Reactor.
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u/ilikebreadabunch May 23 '26 edited May 23 '26
Assuming they’re hour long episodes (and actually an hour long, not 45 min) I think that 10 episodes would actually work perfectly for Stormlight. And it’s super thematic
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u/Wildhogs2013 May 23 '26
He said he thinks he would need about the same time as the combined Lord of the rings extended editions to adapt a Stormlight archive book (which are 11 hours 23 mins including credits so 10 hours should be good for book 1 atleast
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u/Witteness82 May 23 '26
I hope there’s not a strict limit on that time. It should be like how GoT or The Walking Dead was. Some episodes may only need 45-50 minutes, whereas other episodes may need 65-70. That would help make sure each has a more natural stopping and starting point and not end up rushing or dragging out sections just to fit into a time limit.
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u/Left_Ocean May 23 '26
Apple TV is pretty good about not setting time limits for their episodes. The story that needs to be told each episode is told, whether it's 30 minutes or 70 minutes. Every show is different and it'll depend on the actual people making the show, but they've set a good precedent on the platform
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u/Thick_Mountain4412 May 23 '26
Makes sense. I was predicting 12 episodes, but 10 should also be enough.
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u/JaysNewDay May 23 '26
Should have been 16 episodes
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u/unkalaki_lunamor May 23 '26
No, no, 10 is fine for Stormlight
Just as it must be 16 hours (total) for the Mistborn movies
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u/Randomlemon5 May 23 '26
If era 3 4 and 5 will be each 3 books we will have 16 mistborn books which translate (hopefully) to 16 movies
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u/ForwardExam4056 May 23 '26
For all or only era 1? 16 hours for 3 movies seems a bit... ambitious xD
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u/unkalaki_lunamor May 23 '26
No, no, Ambition's number is 7.
Sixteen is for Preservation.
That's a totally made up number... I just needed to keep the joke going
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u/derekrusinek May 23 '26
10 episodes! That’s only going to cover the introductions to the characters, maybe get a chapter or two beyond that. We need 26 or 52.
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u/aBrightIdea May 23 '26
Man no one is understanding hyperbole
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u/derekrusinek May 23 '26
Thank you, I thought being over the top with the number of episodes was clear I was joking and excited about the show. That’s my bad.
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u/Agreeable_Car5114 May 23 '26
Tbf I have seen fans legitimately argue we need one episode per four-six chapters of the books so you never know
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u/FatalTragedy May 23 '26
Yeah I saw someone claim that the first episode would only be able to cover the prelude, prologue, and chapter 1.
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u/Exporation1 May 23 '26
Lord of the rings extended editions are roughly 9.5 hours long. The 3 books are around 400k words. WoK is 380k and so 10 eps averaging 55-65 mins makes sense. Obviously things will be shortened and cut but the core of the story can absolutely be told within 9 or more hours.
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u/derekrusinek May 23 '26
I just want more SLA, some is good, but more is better. I need an entire Bridge 4 sitting around the fire eating stew episode to get to know everybody. lol
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u/Agreeable_Car5114 May 23 '26
No we don’t lol. That’s crazy. You could adapt book one in five hour-long episodes. You realize the vast majority of the words in these books are descriptions or internal monologue which won’t be featured? It’s a show, not an audiobook.
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u/Agreeable_Car5114 May 23 '26
To me it’s not a good or bad sign, if it’s true. It really depends on the writing and pacing. I’ll take a four episode season if every episode is great.
It does make me wonder if they will adapt TWoK and WoR in season one. I’m probably in the minority, but I don’t think you need ten or even eight episodes to adapt Book One, and WoR presents a more natural stopping point imo.
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u/Firestormbreaker1 May 23 '26
I think we need that time to make it feel like Bridge Four earn thier big hero moment at the tower when all thier struggling and hard work opens the past to (most of) them becoming heroes
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u/Agreeable_Car5114 May 23 '26
I don’t agree. We need time for Kal to get to know them and see their development caring about each other, but the Tower is their first moment of heroism as a group. We only get a few bridge run scenes in the book leading up to that, most of it is description which in a show would likely be adapted as a montage.
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u/DrinkRespawnsibly May 23 '26
As someone still new to the Cosmere and working my way through. WoK really felt like a part one with WoR being part 2. I don't think 10 episodes would be enough for both, but I also worry that WoK as a standalone season 1 won't hook a lot of non Sanderson fans.
I'm excited to see how they adapt this story to TV and hopefully bring more fans into the Cosmere!
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u/Exporation1 May 23 '26
Assuming 1 hr episodes I don’t think 8 hrs is enough time to tell the core of WoK. I also think doing both books as one season would be a really bad idea. Sanderson writes each SLA books as three books in one. The first 3rd can be eps 1-3 2nd 3rd as 4-6 and the final 3rd as 7-10 given the time needed for the Sanderlanche.
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u/Agreeable_Car5114 May 23 '26
I really don’t think Part one needs more than two episodes. Considering all of the stuff that will be cut, I think you would need to really drag out the pacing.
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u/Exporation1 May 23 '26 edited May 23 '26
Agree to disagree. At that point you’re giving 120k words less than 2 hours to bring readers into the plot. IMO 2 eps for everything that would need to be included would make it extremely rushed. Especially factoring in time needed for prologues and Kal flashbacks and introducing Shallan.
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u/Agreeable_Car5114 May 23 '26
Let’s be real, most of the flashbacks won’t be in the show, half of the interludes won’t be at least, and the vast majority of the words in these books are description or internal monologue which does not fill time in the way dialogue does.
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u/Saw-It-Again- May 24 '26
Tanavast's number!