Editorial Staff
Ridley Scott is in talks to direct a new film based on the legendary wizard Merlin for Disney.
According to Variety, the “Alien” and “All the Money in the World” director will helm a feature based on the T.A Barron book series “The Merlin Saga”, which chronicles the younger years of the magician’s life, long before he met Arty and the Round Table fellas.
Philippa Boyens, best known as the co-writer of the “Lord of the Rings” series, is set to pen the film. Scott’s Scott Free banner would produce, along with Gil Netter (“Life of Pi”).
According to the official T.A Barron site, “The Merlin Saga tells the complete story of Merlin’s life and times spanning 12 exciting novels. The saga includes The Lost Years of Merlin epic (books 1 – 5), which chronicle the origins of the greatest of all wizards; Merlin’s Dragon trilogy (books 6 – 8), where you meet the powerful dragon in the universe – who is also Merlin’s best friend; The Great Tree of Avalon trilogy (books 9 – 11), which take place in Merlin’s world a thousand years after the wizard’s youth; and The Book of Magic, an illustrated companion volume that reveals the secrets of many characters and places in Merlin’s worlds.”
The feature has been in development for a couple of years with Boyens and Netter attached from the outset.
