I’ve been a fan of Terry Brooks’ novels since a friend introduced me to them in junior high. He is the only author whose books I will go out of my way to purchase in hardcover on their release date. I’ve also had the pleasure of meeting him several times over the years, and almost all of my copies of his books are signed.
It won’t therefore be a surprise to hear that I’ve been following the news of the long-overdue adaptation of his Shannara books into a TV series with growing excitement. Filming of season one wrapped in New Zealand a few weeks ago, and at San Diego Comic-Con MTV finally gave us a trailer and even more important, an air date: January 2016.
The first season of the series, which is an adaptation of Brooks’ second novel, The Elfstones of Shannara, is produced in part by Jon Favreau. The cast they’ve assembled for the show is impressive, to say the least: award-winning actor James Remar, Indiana Jones veteran John Rhys-Davies, Pan’s Labyrinth’s Ivana Baquero, Terra Nova’s Emilia Burns, Arrow’s Austin Butler, Downton Abbey’s Poppy Drayton, and Aaron Jakubenko and Brooke Williams from Spartacus. The series also includes Manu Bennett, who starred with Jakubenko and Williams in Spartacus and Butler in Arrow, in addition to playing Azog in the Hobbit films.
