Francis Lawrence, Paramount team to adapt 'Red Rising' (Exclusive)

Justin Rhodes will write the screenplay based on Pierce Brown's bestselling sci-fi novel.

Paramount Pictures has acquired the rights to Red Rising, Pierce Brown's best-selling dystopian sci-fi series.

Francis Lawrence, who is no stranger to dystopian sci-fi films thanks to his many installments in the Hunger Games franchise, is attached to direct the adaptation of the first novel, titled Red Rising.

Justin Rhodes, who worked with Lawrence on Netflix's Bioshock video game adaptation, will write the screenplay.

A fusion of Roman mythology and science fiction, Rising takes place on Mars in a future where society exists in a colorful class system with gold at the top. The story is about Daru, a young miner who is red, the lowest person on the ladder, and people who exist to do hard work. After witnessing the death of his love and discovering the truth of his existence, Daro infiltrates the Gold Society to bring it down.

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Six books have been published so far, and the seventh book is on the way. In 2024, Brown announced on Instagram that the Red Rising saga had sold over 6 million copies, although it is unclear if this was in the United States or globally. The book was at one point set up for feature development at Universal and was picked up as a series in the late 2010s.

Lawrence and Cameron McConomie will produce for their about.blank banner, alongside Francesco Goodhuis. Brown, who also wrote the Rising comic book prequel story published by Dynamite Entertainment, will serve as executive producer.

Rising joins several other acclaimed literary works either in the works or on the way at Paramount. Children of Blood and Bone is in cans and will be released on January 15, 2027 while Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow based on the novel by Gabriel Zwin is currently in production with Daisy Edgar Jones among the stars. The Midnight Library, directed by Florence Pugh and based on Matt Haig's novel, is set to be filmed next year.

Lawrence, who last directed the Stephen King adaptation The Long Walk, returns to the world of Panem with Lionsgate's upcoming The Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping on November 20, 2027.

Rhodes, who worked on Terminator: Dark Fate, also worked on Paramount's The Traveller, a drama set to shoot next year. His Apple+ feature film Liminal, based on the graphic novel published by AWA, recently wrapped starring Vanessa Kirby and Yahya Abdulmatin II.

Lawrence is repped by CAA and Hansen Jacobson. Rhodes is repped by CAA, Adam Kolbrenner at Lit Entertainment and Eric Saddleson at Toczek Saddleson. Brown is repped by CAA, Hannah Bowman at Liza Dawson Associates for the release. and Dave Feldman in Brechin Feldman.