Comic Con Report: Legend of the Seeker

The upcoming TV series based on Terry Goodkind’s epic 11-book The Sword of Truth series was the main focus of the Wizard’s First Rule panel at the San Diego Comic Con on Thursday 24th July. On hand to discuss the series were executive producers Sam Raimi, Ned Nalle and Rob Tapert, as well as Terry Goodkind himself.

Perhaps the most important titbit announced during the panel was the unveiling of the actual name of the series: Legend of the Seeker. “The books are the books, and this series is based on the books and the characters from the books,” Raimi explained. “And we’re going to try to bring as much of the books to the screen as we can. I think it was Terry’s idea to change the title of the series because if it goes on to tell the story and expand on the story, you can’t have the title of just the first book. And ultimately Wizard’s First Rule would be shortened to ‘Wizard’ and that’s not what the show is about, it’s about heroes.”

Also announced was the fact that the series will begin in syndication with a two-hour premiere event. The series is currently committed for at least a 22-episode run.

When asked how they would tackle the task of breaking down an immense series into hour-long episodes, Goodkind described how they were taking a ‘self-contained stories’ approach to each episode. “They did research and for this market they said: “We want closed-in stories.” And, unfortunately the book, at 850 pages, is one great, big story, so as we’re slicing it and telling it in single storylines. We haven’t broken it down yet. We do have tent poles within the first book, so we know where we’re going and we know where we want to end up. We just have to fill in what’s in between.

“Your friends and family aren’t going to be watching from day one. We want them to come in at the third episode and be able to follow along. So, there has to be a story every episode.”

New cast members that were announced at the panel include Bruce Spence as Zaddicus Zu’L Zorander (aka Zedd), Jay Laga’aia as Chase Brandstone, and Craig Parker as the villainous Darken Rahl. A brief trailer was also shown (which can now be seen at www.legendoftheseeker.com).

In other unrelated news, during a Q&A session Goodkind described his next literary project as a series of three contemporary horror novels. Gordon Holmes