There’s a new fantasy series being adapted for television, as Mercedes Lackey’s immense ‘Valdemar’ series will be joining the likes of The Wheel of Time and Game of Thrones on the small screen.
In an exclusive report from Deadline, it’s been reported that the immense world of Valdemar, created by Mercedes Lackey and currently spanning 58 books, will be adapted for television. The adaptation is being undertaken by Radar Pictures, with Kit Williamson, the creator of EastSiders and author Brittany Cavallaro, author of the Charlotte Holmes books, working on bringing the books to life. The series will be executive produced by Ted Field with Anthony Tringali, Maria Frisk and Michael Napoliello serving as producers.
While the Valdemar books cover several thousand years in total, the first season will specifically be adapting The Last Herald-Mage trilogy, originally published between 1989 and 1991 and consisting of Magic’s Pawn, Magic’s Promise, and Magic’s Price. The story centers on the openly gay nobleman’s son Vanyel, who finds love and a whole lot more when he is sent to the capital city of Haven to live with his aunt, the formidable Herald-Mage Savil.
Mercedes Lackey had this to say about the trilogy finally being adapted for television:
“I have hoped for decades that The Last Herald-Mage would be adapted for television. Now that Radar has optioned the trilogy, I am nearly breathless with excitement. I could not have chosen a better organization to take my work in hand, and Kit and Bri, the producers, absolutely know both their stuff and the material. I love the fact that this is going to be a longform series: episodic TV gives the story all the room it needs. I hope our fans will be as thrilled to see their favorite characters come to life as I am.”
And the importance of adapting a fantasy series featuring an openly gay protagonist isn’t lost on Williamson or Cavallaro:
“Vanyel in The Last Herald Mage series was one of the first gay characters I encountered, and as a recently out 16-year-old I can’t stress enough the impact that these books had on me. The Valdemar series was far ahead of its time in the portrayal of LGBTQ characters, and Lackey’s writing afforded them a level of depth and complexity that is still very rare, especially in genre storytelling,” said Williamson.
There are no further details given at this time about this adaptation of the Valdemar series, but hopefully more details will be coming along soon.
