Legendary Gets Movie Rights for Claire McFall’s ‘Ferryman’ Trilogy
Legendary Entertainment has bought the film rights to produce the Ferryman trilogy.
Image via The National
The trilogy was written by former Scottish teacher, Claire McFall, and it is expected to become a franchise at Legendary.
“The first book was published in the UK by Templar in 2013 but became a breakout in China as that country’s bestselling e-book of 2016, with more than 1 million copies sold across all platforms. McFall, a part-time high school English teacher, has become an unlikely celebrity in the Middle Kingdom.”
The series follows Dylan, a young girl who believes she survived a train crash on the Scottish hillside, but in fact is in limbo. The story is a modern retelling of the Greek myth of Charon, a ferryman for God of the Underworld, Hades. The mythological ferryman lead souls to the underworld. Dylan’s ferryman, Tristan, comes to collect her soul, however, the two fall in love, and tragedy follows.
This is not the first YA tale to adopt Greek mythology. Percy Jackson & the Olympians was a failed film series, with only two films being adapted from the 5 part book series. There have not been any other attempts to adapt similar stories. The most popular YA adaptations are dystopias and romances. Hollywood has actively pursued dystopians for film franchises, since the Hunger Games massive success.
The first two novels have been published, the second novel was published in September 2017. The novels were a critical and financial success. The final novel will hit shelves in 2019.
Last week Legendary announced they were teaming up with Millie Bobby Brown to adapt a series of films about Sherlock Holmes’ sister, Enola Holmes. Legendary is investing heavily in female-led YA stories, let’s see if they fare better than the other hopeful YA franchises.
Source: Deadline.
