Christopher Paolini’s Novel Gets Series Adaptation at Disney+

Fresh off the announcement that Disney will be adapting The Graveyard Book, it seems that the studio will be adapting another beloved piece of children’s literature. Eragon, a novel by Christopher Paolini, is currently being developed for streaming, according to Variety.

Eragon, originally published in 2002, marked the beginning of a four-book series, collectively called “The Inheritance Cycle”. The television series will be based on these books. Paolini is attached as co-writer and co-showrunner, in a move similar to what Disney+ is doing with Rick Riordan and the Percy Jackson series. The studio is on the search for another writer and showrunner to work alongside Paolini as this will be his first foray into writing for television. The series will be executive produced by Bert Salke under the Co-Lab 21 banner and in partnership with 20th Television. At this time, additional details are scarce. It is unknown if the series will follow in Percy Jackson’s footsteps, adapting one book per season or if the story will be taken in a new direction. This move by Disney+ will follow in the trend of popular children’s books being adapted for streaming, something that has grown more common following Netflix’s A Series of Unfortunate Events, based on the book series by Lemony Snicket. Disney+ has already begun churning out YA book-to-screen properties including The Mysterious Benedict Society and the forthcoming shows based on The Spiderwick Chronicles and Percy Jackson and the Olympians, which is expected to debut on the streamer in 2024.

Eragon has been adapted for the screen once before. In 2006, a film adaptation from 20th Century Fox was released starring Ed Speelers as the titular character of Eragon, with an ensemble including Rachel Weisz, Jeremy Irons, Garrett Hedlund, and John Malkovich. Though highly anticipated by fans of the books, the film opened to largely negative reviews and potential sequel talks were dissolved. In 2021, the hype for a new adaptation began to build, with the hashtag #EragonRemake trending on Twitter. Paolini himself even joined in on the movement, encouraging fans to Tweet their wishes for “a proper Eragon adaptation.”

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In 2018, Paolini published a spin-off book of stories from the Eragon universe titled The Fork, the Witch, and the Worm. In 2020, he released his first science fiction book, called To Sleep in a Sea of Stars. Paolini was only eighteen when Eragon was first published and later was awarded the “youngest author of a bestselling series” by Guinness World Records.

The story of the first book follows Eragon as he finds a mysterious dragon egg in the mountains and must flee his village to save the dragon from the evil king. A trailer for the 2006 film can be seen below.