Francis Lawrence has found his next dystopian franchise. Paramount Pictures has acquired the film rights to Pierce Brown's Red Rising, and Lawrence is attached to direct a movie based on the first book in the best-selling sci-fi series. The news broke yesterday (October 16th), just over a month before Lawrence's latest trip to Panem arrives in theaters.
From Panem To Mars
Lawrence is one of the most experienced directors around when it comes to turning young adult dystopian novels into big movies. He has directed five Hunger Games films, starting with Catching Fire and continuing through both parts of Mockingjay, The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes, and the upcoming The Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping, which Lionsgate releases next month (November 20th). Gary Ross directed the first film in that series.
He has stayed busy outside of Panem too. Lawrence most recently directed the Stephen King adaptation The Long Walk, and he has another deal with Lionsgate for Carry Me to My Grave, based on a horror novel by Christopher Golden, which he is eyeing to direct and produce. Red Rising now gives him a second dystopian series to build at another studio.
The Team Behind The Red Rising Movie
Justin Rhodes is writing the screenplay. He already has a working relationship with Lawrence from developing Netflix's live-action BioShock movie, and his credits include Terminator: Dark Fate and the Prime Video anthology series Secret Level. Rhodes also worked on Paramount's The Traveler, which is set to shoot next year, and his Apple feature Liminal recently wrapped with Vanessa Kirby and Yahya Abdul-Mateen II.
Lawrence will produce with Cameron MacConomy through their company about:blank, along with Francesco Goedhuis. Brown is an executive producer. No cast or release date has been announced yet.
What The Story Is About
For anyone who has not read the books, Red Rising takes place on Mars in a future where humanity is sorted into a color-coded caste system. The Golds rule from the top, while the Reds sit at the bottom and work in the mines. Darrow is a young Red miner who discovers that his people have been enslaved and lied to by the Golds. After a devastating loss, he is remade to pass as a Gold and sent to infiltrate their society, where he joins a rebellion trying to overthrow the entire hierarchy.
The story mixes Roman mythology with science fiction, and much of the first book plays out at a deadly military school where young Golds fight for their place. That setup has drawn plenty of Hunger Games comparisons over the years, which makes Lawrence an easy choice for the job.
A Big Bet On Books At Paramount
Red Rising is the latest literary property Paramount has picked up. The studio has Children of Blood and Bone, based on Tomi Adeyemi's fantasy novel, coming early next year (January 15th, 2027). It also has Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow in production with Daisy Edgar-Jones, and The Midnight Library, starring Florence Pugh, is due to shoot next year.
The series has a large audience waiting for this. The first book came out in 2014, six novels have been released so far, and Brown said on Instagram back in 2024 that the saga had sold over 6 million copies. The seventh and final book, Red God, is still in the works. Red Rising was previously in development as a film at Universal and was later eyed as a TV series, but neither version made it to the screen.
Brown has also written a Red Rising comic book prequel story for Dynamite Entertainment, so the series already has some experience moving into other formats.
Lawrence's track record suggests Paramount is hoping for a franchise here, and the deal only covers the first novel for now. How well this first movie lands will likely decide whether Darrow's story gets the full saga treatment.
Is Francis Lawrence the right director to bring Red Rising to life, or would you rather see a filmmaker who has not already spent years in Panem take a swing at it?
Sound off with your thoughts in the comments below.