An upcoming adaptation of a bestselling YA sci-fi book series seems so ambitious in scale that it will likely make even The Hunger Games feel small. Not all installments in the Hunger Games franchise earned critical acclaim. However, almost all of them proved to be commercially successful, establishing the book-to-screen potential of the original novels.
Further leveraging the franchise’s immense popularity, a new Hunger Games movie, The Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping, is already in the works and scheduled to premiere on November 20, 2026. While the Hunger Games franchise seems to grow from strength to strength, however, another exciting book-to-screen adaptation has emerged.
Brandon Sanderson’s Skyward is getting a TV adaptation, which, like The Hunger Games, falls in the YA sci-fi genre. Although its core premise is significantly different from The Hunger Games‘, it dabbles with similar themes surrounding authoritarian control and survival against overwhelming odds. Readers familiar with the Brandon Sanderson books would know how massive Skyward is when it comes to its storytelling scope.
Both The Hunger Games and the Skyward series feature an underdog protagonist who fights against a localized, tyrannical force. However, beyond these surface-level similarities, Skyward expands its vision to a cosmic scale where it features aerial showdowns between humans and alien forces.
The series gradually evolves into a full-fledged space opera where multiple species and star systems are introduced. While the Skyward books also feature allegories surrounding war and trauma, they eventually expand to a far bigger scale and involve many fantastical elements.
Considering the sheer size of Skyward‘s overarching universe, its adaptation has the potential to be far bigger than the Hunger Games movies. The small-screen format will also allow the series to cover most chapters from the original books instead of rehashing the source material and cutting down its important arcs for the screen.
A Worthy Skyward Adaptation Will Need A Massive Budget
The Hunger Games movies have benefited a lot from their massive budgets and the scale they brought to Panem. Despite being a small-screen adaptation, Skyward, too, will need a big budget to be able to succeed. Since Brandon Sanderson is co-writing its pilot script with Jed Whedon and Maurissa Tancharoen (Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.), the show’s storytelling will likely not disappoint.
However, to be able to plausibly capture everything from the deep-space fleet battles to the surreal, abstract physics of the story’s setting, Skyward will need a budget that rivals some of television’s most ambitious sci-fi productions. In its latter arcs, its CGI budget will have to go even higher to be able to convincingly capture the main character’s journey beyond the planet of Detritus.
Fortunately, Skyward‘s adaptation is being developed by Tomorrow Studios. The studio has proven its ability to get high-fantasy adaptations right by giving us Netflix’s One Piece. Considering the fact that the studio succeeded with One Piece even though its anime and manga are known to be incredibly absurd and abstract from a visual standpoint, it should not struggle with Skyward‘s adaptation.
It may be too soon to tell whether Skyward will eventually become as culturally impactful as The Hunger Games. However, with so much going in its favor, it seems to have immense potential.
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- First Film
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The Hunger Games
- Cast
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Jennifer Lawrence, Josh Hutcherson, Liam Hemsworth, Elizabeth Banks, Woody Harrelson, Stanley Tucci, Donald Sutherland, Lenny Kravitz, Willow Shields, Phillip Seymour Hoffman, Rachel Zegler, Tom Blyth, Viola Davis, Peter Dinklage, Hunter Schafer, Jason Schwartzman
- Created by
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Suzanne Collins
- Movie(s)
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The Hunger Games, The Hunger Games: Catching Fire, The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 1, The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 2, The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes
The Hunger Games is a multi-movie franchise starring Jennifer Lawrence as Katniss Everdeen. The films are based on the young adult dystopian book series by author Suzanne Collins. The first film was released in 2012, followed by Catching Fire in 2013, Mockingjay Part 1 in 2014, and Mockingjay Part 2 in 2015. In 2023, the fifth film in the series was released, The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes.
