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SYFY WIRE fantasy

N.K. Jemisin will be adapting her bestselling 'Broken Earth' trilogy herself

By Nivea Serrao

While book-to-screen adaptations may sometimes veer from their source material (or perfectly capture the spirit of it) fans of N.K. Jemisin's Broken Earth trilogy can rest assured. According to Deadline, not only will the books be getting the big screen treatment, but Jemisin herself will be adapting them for Sony Pictures Entertainment and TriStar Pictures, as part of a seven-figure deal.

The bestselling trilogy is comprised of three books -- The Fifth SeasonThe Obelisk Gate, and The Stone Sky -- and is set on a harsh futuristic version of Earth. In this world, all the inhabitants of the planet live on a single continent known as the "Stillness," and are forced to endure a fifth season, which brings with it catastrophic climate change with disastrous outcomes. However, there are those known as "orogenes," who have the ability to control energy from either the ground or the temperature. As a result of this power, orogenes are either killed or put in the care of Guardians, who raise and control them in a brutal fashion. At the start of the series, a particularly powerful orogene splits the Stillness across its length, causing one of the worst fifth seasons in history. 

A 2020 MacArthur fellow, Jemisin also won a Hugo Award for Best Novel for each book in the trilogy, making her the first author to win the award three years in a row, and the first to win for a whole trilogy. The Fifth Season also went on to win the Sputnik Award, and was nominated for the Nebula Award and the World Fantasy Award for Best Novel. Her work has also been lauded for its inclusiveness, and the diversity of characters and experiences featured in it. 

"It's 2021, we don't need to be pretending that the world is all middle American, lantern-jawed, white dudes going forth and sticking their phallic objects in people's face," Jemisin told SYFY Wire earlier this year. "There's a lot of different ways that we can do things."

This isn't the first series of Jemisin's to be optioned for adaptation. A television adaptation of her other bestselling series, The Inheritance Trilogy, is currently in the works as well. 

Jemisin will be adapting The Broken Earth Trilogy in partnership with Elizabeth Gabler’s 3000 Pictures.

No release date has been set for either adaptation, but you can buy copies of the books here. Jemisin's MasterClass on how to write Fantasy and Science Fiction is also available to stream. 


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