Paramount wins frenzied bidding war for hot new fantasy franchise

Recent smash hits including Game of Thrones, The Witcher, The Wheel of Time, and Amazon’s upcoming The Lord of the Rings have signaled that studios and streamers alike are happy to invest huge sums of money into sprawling fantasy projects if they’ve got the potential to draw in a crowd.

While those titles may be episodic in nature, Paramount will be hoping its feature film adaptations of the Children of Blood and Bone literary trilogy manage to hit the same sweet spot, especially after Deadline reports the company beat out Netflix, Universal, and Amazon to secure the rights to the property.

The bestselling books were written by Tomi Adeyemi, who will also pen the screenplay and executive produce the proposed blockbuster trilogy. Children of Blood and Bone, along with sequel Children of Virtue and Vengeance, were huge hits, and the third chapter is expected to be published next year.

The story unfolds in the fictional nation of Orïsha, where magically-imbued diviners and non-magical kosidán are the two dominant aspects of society. The ruling king suppressed magic and ordered the diviners to be slain a decade prior, though, before hero Zélie and her brother Tzain help a runaway girl escape the royal guards.

Naturally, she turns out to be the king’s daughter, and in possession of a scroll that can restore power to any diviner who touches it. Paramount sealed the deal with the promise of theatrical exclusivity, so the hype machine is being placed firmly behind Children of Blood and Bone.