Few directors have left a mark on modern dystopian sci-fi quite like Francis Lawrence. Known famously for his screen adaptation of Suzanne Collins’ The Hunger Games, Lawrence is the visionary behind five of the six franchise movies, including the latest, highly anticipated installment, Sunrise on the Reaping. This prequel trip to Panem, which is set to release in theaters next month, has already received enormous buzz and will take place 24 years before the original Hunger Games series.
While Lawrence is arguably most famous for creating in this arena, the director has also found acclaim for films I Am Legend and Constantine​​​, which both have an impressive pop culture footprint among cinephiles. Creating captivating sci-fi blockbusters has undoubtedly become a familiar feat for the director, and news of the director’s latest project claims that he doesn’t plan on stopping anytime soon.
According to reports from The Hollywood Reporter, Lawrence is going to be taking his talents to a new popular sci-fi book series, with the announcement that the best-selling novel, Red Rising, is officially being adapted for the screen. Lawrence is set to direct the film project, with Paramount Pictures owning the film rights.
Red Rising is the first installment of the broader six-book series, Rising, and follows a lowborn miner on Mars named Darrow, who believes he is working underground to help the planet’s surface for the generations to come. He quickly learns, however, that Mars has actually been inhabited for generations, and his social group, called the “Reds,” are merely slaves who are kept underground. Fueled by justice, Darrow begins a dangerous expedition to infiltrate the higher society that buries him.
Similar to Lawrence’s established world in The Hunger Games, Red Rising focuses on a lot of themes of social inequality and rebellion. The story also hinges on a unique color-coded class system, with the “Reds” at the bottom and the “Golds” sitting on top. This is an especially interesting element given Lawrence’s powerful exploration of color as a metaphor in The Hunger Games — most notably in the upcoming Sunrise on the Reaping ​​​​​​film. Should the director choose to bring similar visual approaches to Red Rising​​​​​​’s color system​​​​​, his previous experience with this metaphorical tool could be striking.
Another Red Rising adaptation was previously announced back in 2014, but the project never moved forward. This announcement, over ten years later, will be the first screen adaptation of the Rising saga. Justin Rhodes (Terminator: Dark Fate) is set to write the script, and Pierce Brown, the author who wrote the book, will executive produce. Exact filming and release dates have not been confirmed.
