Picture: Rick Riordan
We’ll soon be coming up two years since Netflix first announced they’re producing movies based on Rick Riordan’s The Kane Chronicles. Despite being very little official news, we still know plenty about the upcoming movies. So here’s everything we know about The Kane Chronicles on Netflix.
Netflix first announced the project all the way back in late 2020. It was officially announced to the public in September 2020 although they’d been working with Netflix since October 2019.
In this deal, Netflix has both the film and television options/rights to adapt all three of the books. Although Netflix has the television rights, it’s expected they’re turning the books into movies, starting with The Red Pyramid (more on this in a second).
All the projects are set to be live-action movies and produced by Mythomagic, Inc., a production company founded by Rick and Becky Riordan. The pair work on the projects and act as “guardians of the source material“.
On Rick Riordan’s website, it states:
“Rick and Becky have sold TV/film rights for the Kane Chronicles to Netflix for development as a series of feature films. Rick and Becky are presently serving as producers for a live-action adaptation of the first book The Red Pyramid. At present, the script is being written by our screen writer, who is based in London.”
What is The Kane Chronicles about?
The Kane Chronicles is split into three books:
- The Red Pyramid – Published in 2010
- The Throne of Fire – Published in 2011
- The Serpent’s Shadow – Published in 2012.
Book covers for The Kane Chronicles
Often compared with the Percy Jackson series, the series is very much inspired by ancient civilization mythology, in this instance, ancient Egypt.
The story takes place in the modern-day world, where siblings Carter and Sadie Kane are taken in by their Uncle Amos after their father, Julius, an egyptologist, goes missing.
Upon learning of their family’s rich heritage of magic, the sibling pair also learn they have been chosen as “hosts” for the Egyptian gods Horus and Isis, respectively. Soon finding themselves on the run from an ancient Egyptian order of magicians, Carter and Sadie stumble upon an evil plot to destroy the entire North American continent.
Where is The Kane Chronicles in development at Netflix?
Thanks to Rick and Becky Riordan, we’ve actually had a pretty good track of where the movie is in terms of development. Sadly, however, as of August 2022, it’s very much the case that the title is still in active development and nowhere close to releasing or even going into production.
In December 2020, just months after the initial announcement, Becky Riordan posted to say:
“I am reading the updated Netflix script for the Red Pyramid ahead of a meeting & am liking the changes. Small thing? Remind me what color Muffin is supposed to be? I thought she was a yellow Mau or tabby or is that just the artwork? Does she look different in other countries?”
In March 2021, a blog post on Rick Riordan gave us a major update on the Netflix movie:
“The Red Pyramid feature film project at Netflix is still in the script revision phase, but we are making good progress. Our wonderful screenwriter has done a second pass, and now we are working with our production team and the writer to get it into prime shape so we can send it to our partners at the studio. If you’ve been following along so far, you can guess what comes next. The studio will have notes for us, too. We will address those. The script will probably go through a few more revisions. (Just like writing a book!) Once everybody is happy with it, then we will start talking next steps, but I imagine (just a guess) we have a few more months ahead of us before we get to that point. The script is like the foundation of your building. It has to be absolutely solid so we can build a great film from it. And just a reminder, we are planning a live action feature based on Kane Chronicles I: The Red Pyramid.”
In July 2021, a blog post says that they’re still working through notes, but more interestingly, Rick spoke about the process as a whole, referring to it as a “trial by fire!”.
A few months later, in October 2021, a new blog post updated us on those scripts that were sent to Netflix. The post concluded that they’re hunting for a second-pass screenwriter, saying:
“We also had some great conversations with our production partners for this Netflix feature adaptation as we look to identify the best screenwriter for a second pass on the screenplay. We have some excellent leads, and should be moving forward with a re-write soon. Again, this is pretty normal for the screenwriting process. Different writers bring different strengths to the project, and we want to be sure we have the script in the best possible shape before we go out to directors. We remain very excited about the possibilities, as do our partners at Netflix!”
In June 2022, Becky Riordan said, “Our scriptwriter is hard at work on the revised script for The Red Pyramid.”
Picture: Rick Riordan
The most recent update came in August 2022 when it was posted that Diandra Pendleton-Thompson is working on the current round of revisions with the post saying:
“This week, we are also expecting the latest draft of the script for The Kane Chronicles: The Red Pyramid from Diandra Pendleton-Thompson, and I can’t wait to read it! She’s done a fantastic job on everything I’ve seen so far, which makes me even more excited to get this project moving forward at Netflix.”
Diandra Pendleton-Thompson’s credits include Star Trek: Prodigy for Nickelodeon, Star Trek: Picard, and Stranger Things Season 3.
Elsewhere, Rick Riordan’s Percy Jackson franchise is getting adaptation treatment at Disney. That project is a little further along than Netflix’s with the next series, Percy Jackson and The Olympians. That’s likely due to hit in 2024 and is filming throughout 2022. Daughter of the Deep is also receiving a Disney+ adaptation.
Are you looking forward to The Kane Chronicles on Netflix? Let us know in the comments down below.
