'The Broken Earth' to be Adapted

June 4, 2021 9:23 PM

N.K. Jemisin's 'The Broken Earth' trilogy will be adapted to visual media. A brief synopsis of the series is here.
posted by Quonab (28 comments total)

I cried when I read 'The author will adapt the books herself'. It makes me feel good that whatever comes of this, whether it be a TV series or a movie, that Jemisin will have a say in things and can bring the themes she talked about in her writing to the forefront.
posted by Quonab at 9:28 PM on June 4, 2021 [39 favorites]

I am SO EXCITED about this! For me some books are words on a page and some are vibrant worlds I can close my eyes and see and this series was the later, I cannot wait to see it on the screen.
posted by lepus at 10:11 PM on June 4, 2021 [2 favorites]

Definitely good news. I've been imagining how it would look as a long series since I read it last year. I hope it gets some top talent to make it look fantastic.
posted by Catblack at 10:34 PM on June 4, 2021

I'm really excited to see what a TV show will look like as I have the hardest time imaging the books as anything other than the books themselves. Which means having her adapt will be great, I'm pumped to see what it looks like onscreen.
posted by Carillon at 10:35 PM on June 4, 2021 [1 favorite]

Going to be challenging adapting The Fifth Season without giving an important plot point away almost immediately, I'd think?
posted by praemunire at 10:38 PM on June 4, 2021 [12 favorites]

(Trying to avoid spoilers...)

I guess you could sort of lie to the audience and then reveal the lie? But otherwise yeah it seems like watching would be a very different experience on that point.
posted by thefoxgod at 11:26 PM on June 4, 2021

The color scheme: lots of white and black and grey.
posted by zardoz at 12:25 AM on June 5, 2021

cautiously excited! loved the books
posted by wooh at 12:49 AM on June 5, 2021 [2 favorites]

I'm very excited about this; I really liked the science fiction / secondary world fantasy blend in the book setting.

I don't think that the plot point in question is critical to the story, but I also think that it's entirely possible to depict it on screen using a television device which has been used before (and was in fact used to conceal the same plot twist in a recent TV series).
posted by confluency at 2:25 AM on June 5, 2021 [1 favorite]

Well! This is excellent news.
posted by seanmpuckett at 5:42 AM on June 5, 2021

I'm happy Jemisin is getting a large amount of money for this, but I really hope it doesn't distract her from her truly important work.
posted by signal at 6:01 AM on June 5, 2021 [3 favorites]

Also cautiously excited!
posted by inexorably_forward at 6:08 AM on June 5, 2021

WOW
posted by supermedusa at 6:26 AM on June 5, 2021

I think using three actors could be enough to do the trick. Simply "lie" by omission.
posted by bonehead at 7:23 AM on June 5, 2021 [6 favorites]

I read this a few years back—really good. Unique take on fantasy/post-apocalyse/sorta/maybe that didn't read like a retread. I also don't remember ever reading a novel that used those changing, particular POV narrative voices, ever. It was odd at first, but became natural after a bit.

I don't think the issue with the character(s), ahem... "being who they are"... is that big of a mystery that a film adaptation will spoil it? In other words, the realization as to who these people(s) were wasn't such a giant "OMG spoiler reveal" that would dampen the premise of the movie.

Perhaps I'm remembering this incorrectly, but that's my recollection. Looking forward to seeing this down the road. Fingers crossed that some committee doesn't mess it up.
posted by SoberHighland at 8:26 AM on June 5, 2021 [1 favorite]

This is exciting; the books are so good and, question of handling the three-actors-or....? approach aside, it seems eminently filmable with the right decisions and modern effects, and with Jemisin writing the adaptation the decision-making bit's off to a good start.

These books were very visual for me too, which isn't always the case, and I think my only worry about this is as with all screen adaptations of a book I had a strong visual experience of everything is bound to look different once I see it and I'm bound to lose those original imagined versions. There's a kind of preemptive grief that comes with this kind of adaptation, for those personal mental sketches. But then, that's almost always in proportion to how much I care for the source work, which means it's almost always worth it to get to experience it again in a new way.
posted by cortex at 9:04 AM on June 5, 2021

End of first book details

It seems like it’s totally appropriate to use three lead actors, I can’t imagine how you’d do it otherwise. Probably age Damaya up slightly, maybe 11-12, then Syenite is 20s, and Essun is 40s. My concern is that having three Black woman actors leading a series is sadly rare enough that a viewing audience would see through the twist immediately, rather than hints appearing over the first.. probably hour of onscreen material.

The most probably misstep is having way too many white actors cast. Some of the fan-castings floating around look pretty solid (but also drop hints towards the end-of-first-book plot details)
posted by supercres at 9:10 AM on June 5, 2021

My first thought on clicking the link was "oh no oh no oh no". But "The author will adapt the books herself" turned me right around. I'm super excited.

I caught on to the "twist" almost immediately, and it didn't diminish my experience of the rest of the book. Except maybe briefly when the reveal felt a little hokey. Maybe just don't even bother hiding what's going on... I'm not sure Jemisin intended for it to be as hidden as she made it seem she intended, in the first place.
posted by gurple at 9:42 AM on June 5, 2021 [7 favorites]

I would not be even perturbed if the reveal was gradual over a few episodes. It's not a huge spoiler in any case. The identity of Alabaster is going to be harder to mask, for instance, especially if they go with his big thing as the cold open.
posted by bonehead at 9:52 AM on June 5, 2021 [2 favorites]

This is particularly good news given that the series has been in "development hell" for at least 4 years.
posted by gwint at 10:02 AM on June 5, 2021

I don't think the issue with the character(s), ahem... "being who they are"... is that big of a mystery that a film adaptation will spoil it? In other words, the realization as to who these people(s) were wasn't such a giant "OMG spoiler reveal" that would dampen the premise of the movie.

Yes, I guessed it myself pretty early on (or, rather, I thought "either it's [x] or this writer has a real issue [doing the thing not-x requires]") and it didn't really diminish my experience. But clearly it was an important point for Jemisin herself.
posted by praemunire at 10:09 AM on June 5, 2021 [1 favorite]

I finished the trilogy yesterday. What exciting news!
posted by lazymuse at 10:10 AM on June 5, 2021

I thought the POV trick was interesting, and worked well as a thing to distinguish the first book in a trilogy as something worth paying attention to. But once the story opened out into three books, it became less of a crucial plot thing such that I only remembered it was a thing once people started talking about it here.

Having Jemisin adapting it (and getting a big payday) makes me really happy. There are so many things that can go wrong adapting books for the screen, but having the authors involved really helped The Expanse, for example. Normally I hate to see good books go to the screen because it's so unnecessary, but in this case the representation and the story should be broadcast as far and wide as possible.
posted by rikschell at 12:44 PM on June 5, 2021 [2 favorites]

I’m very excited! These books are just so wonderful. supercres, I’d love to see these fan castings you speak of if you have a link. Feels like something I’d find on tumblr, if I had any idea how to find things there.
posted by eirias at 1:22 PM on June 5, 2021

Hell yes, and thank God it isn't with Disney or Netflix
posted by Reyturner at 2:56 PM on June 5, 2021

I agree with everyone else here. The reveal (actually, several reveals) adds an interesting dimension to the story, but it isn't essential to the story. Everything that unfolds would unfold in exactly the same way, just with somewhat more transparency for the audience. And the reveal that was imo by far the most interesting (regarding one of the scruffy supporting characters), can still be a reveal in the miniseries.
posted by xigxag at 9:49 PM on June 5, 2021 [2 favorites]

In the other series that I can think of from the last few years that did what I think people are laying down here, speculating about how the strands fit together was a phenomenon in itself and then people got to be proud of themselves for getting it right.
posted by atoxyl at 2:51 AM on June 6, 2021

Hmm, is this a TV show or movies? Comments imply show but the article doesn't say at all. (It says TriStar Pictures, not TriStar Television, so maybe movies?)
posted by thefoxgod at 12:28 PM on June 6, 2021