Mercedes Lackey’s Valdemar Universe fantasy books are being adapted for television under Radar Pictures. According to Deadline, the production company has acquired the rights to adapt the series for the small screen. The intent is to adapt the books into a “long-running” series, reports Collider.
The first season will be an adaptation of The Last Herald-Mage trilogy, which consists of Magic’s Pawn, Magic’s Price, and Magic’s Promise. These books follow Vanyel, an openly gay but “abused” and “persecuted” son of a Valdemaran noble. He is Chosen by Companion Yfandes at Haven. Yfandes are “magical horse-like beings with the power to bond with their Chosen and trigger the potential for psychic abilities—and magic,” writes Deadline.
Vanyel, with his aunt Herald Savil and the Yfandes, will journey to the residence of the Hawkbrothers to undergo healing and training. Vanyel will then evolve from a “troubled” and “heartbroken” Trainee into “the most powerful Herald-Mage in the history of Valdemar,” who may be the only hope against an enemy determined to eliminate magic from the Kingdom forever.
Ted Field, founder of Radar Pictures, will executive produce the Valdemar series. Brittany Cavallaro (author of the Charlotte Holmes books) will adapt along with Kit Williamson (creator of the LGBTQ comedy show EastSiders on Netflix). According to Deadline, Cavallaro and Williamson bonded over the Valdemar books when they were in school, and now the duo will write and produce the Valdemar series.
In a statement from Lackey, the author admitted she’d been “hoping for decades” that The Last Herald-Mage trilogy would be adapted to television, and now that the project is underway, she feels “breathless with excitement.” She adds, “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 hope our fans will be as thrilled to see their favorite characters come to life as I am.”
Williamson expressed, “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.”
Cavallaro adds, “It’s an absolute dream to be adapting the Valdemar books alongside Radar Pictures and Kit Williamson. Twenty years ago, Kit and I became friends at boarding school, and bonded over our love for Mercedes Lackey’s work, and we’re so excited to begin the process of bringing it to the screen.”
Neither a release date or platform information is available for the Valdemar Universe television series yet.
FEATURED IMAGES VIA VALDEMAR WIKI AND AMAZON