Last December 2013, MTV gave the go-ahead for the TV adaptation of Terrence Dean "Terry" Brooks' Shannara novel series. Now, a year and a half later, the first images of the coming small screen series has been released.
Prior to MTV picking up the high-fantasy novel franchise, Shannara topped the list of the highest-selling yet-to-be-adapted book series of its genre.
The book installments first began with "The Sword of Shannara," which was released in 1977. This was followed by "The Elfstones of Shannara" in 1982 and "Wishsong of Shannara" in 1985. "First King of Shannara," a prequel to the first book, was released in 1996
The Shannara series tells of a world on the verge of an apocalyptic war. It centers around the journey of Wil Ohmsford, a man who was sought out because of his possession of the protective talismans called Elfstones, which were passed down to him by his grandfather.
Wil was then recruited to serve as guardian for Amberle, an Elf girl who must deliver a seed to regrow the Forbidding, a spell cast to keep demons at bay. However, the spell expired, so evil has begun to break through. The "Chosen" is the only hope for banishing haunting evil and relieving the world from the dire situation. Fans hope the TV show adaptation stays faithful to the original storyline.
As part of the promotion for the show, a teaser image, the first one, was released. In the photo, three protagonists were shown holding torches inside a tunnel. The actors in the teaser photograph are, from left, Ivana Baquero as Eretria, Austin Butler as Wil Ohmsford and Poppy Drayton as Amberle Elessedil.
Brooks also took part in the promotion of the series. He recently had an interview with Entertainment Weekly, which led to an interesting development. When asked if the small screen adaptation will be faithful to his books or be more like the "Game of Thrones" adaptation of George R.R. Martin's "A Song of Ice and Fire," Brooks quipped: "Don't mention 'Game of Thrones' to me." He then added: " We were saying, 'We don't want to go that route.'"
Brooks later declared: "Anyone from 10 years of age up who has the reading skills can read these books. We've always talked about it as a family drama that anyone can watch. I thought of it as a straight adaptation."
According to its IMDB profile, the upcoming TV series will be entitled "The Chronicles of Shannara." The first season will have 10 episodes and is due for release later this year.
