Disney’s upcoming adaptation of Eragon will combine the best elements of the two popular dragon-rider franchises. There’s little doubt that the fantasy genre has great potential in the world of television, and book adaptations tend to be the cream of the crop. This naturally makes it no surprise that Disney will be turning the beloved Inheritance Cycle by Christopher Paolini into a TV show. Add in the fact that this is a high fantasy adventure filled with dragons, and Eragon is a shoo-in.
Paolini’s Inheritance Cycle, which begins with the 2002 novel Eragon, follows a 15-year-old farm boy named Eragon who discovers and hatches a dragon egg. Eragon forges a connection with this dragon, Saphira, and becomes the first dragon rider in over a century. This makes him the target of the Mad King Galbatorix, forcing Eragon into an adventure across a massive fantasy world.
Eragon is still in the early stages of production, with showrunners Todd Harthan and Todd Helbing only recently announcing that the writers have officially set to work (with the help of Paolini himself). It will likely be a couple of years before the show begins streaming on Disney+, but Eragon is all but guaranteed to be worth the wait. After all, this is a story that brings together elements of the most successful dragon-rider projects in film and television—HBO’s House of the Dragon and DreamWorks’ How to Train Your Dragon.
Disney+’s Eragon Will Have House Of The Dragon’s Intense Dragon Battles & Politics
Game of Thrones revolutionized the fantasy genre, and House of the Dragon has kept the ball rolling. The spinoff series delivered on its promise for further political intrigue and shocking twists, while finally showing viewers what Westeros looked like when Targaryens ruled from the backs of dragons. HBO brought this to the screen with breathtaking effect, with every dragon battle raising the bar a little higher.
Like the Game of Thrones franchise, The Inheritance Cycle is set in an expansive, complex fantasy world. The forces that be are highly political, with a tyrannical ruler and a mix of allied and enemy nations. Then, there are the dragons.
Disney+’s Eragon is guaranteed to have epic dragon battles. The mythical beasts of this fantasy universe are intelligent and powerful, forming intimate, intuitive bonds with their riders. This means that when they go up against one another, it’s absolutely explosive. It should be every bit as thrilling as the battles we see in House of the Dragon, but with one significant difference.
Eragon Will Balance HOTD’s Intensity With How To Train Your Dragon’s Coming-Of-Age Whimsy
The Inheritance Cycle is a YA book series, so Disney+’s TV show will likely be aimed at teens and adults. This naturally means it won’t be quite as brutal as House of the Dragon, but that’s far from a bad thing. The Eragon book layers intense political intrigue with coming-of-age themes such as lost innocence, the burdens of power, and a search for personal and moral identity.
In this sense, Eragon will have some overlap with DreamWorks’ How to Train Your Dragon franchise. This is yet another dragon-rider adventure, and though it couldn’t be more different from House of the Dragon, it has never let us down in terms of awe-inspiring thrills and whimsy.
How to Train Your Dragon is the kind of film franchise that effortlessly makes audiences’ hearts soar. The story magically allows its viewers to feel as if they are flying through the sky alongside the protagonists. It’s this lighthearted magic that Disney’s Eragon can capture in live-action. Paired with House of the Dragon‘s more mature intensity, we can surely expect something phenomenal.
