Red Rising is heading to Paramount, with Hunger Games director Francis Lawrence attached
Paramount has acquired film rights to Pierce Brown’s series. Lawrence is attached to direct the first novel’s adaptation, and Justin Rhodes will write it.
Paramount has acquired the film rights to Pierce Brown’s Red Rising series, with Francis Lawrence attached to direct a film based on the first novel. The Hollywood Reporter broke the news on October 16, and Deadline confirmed the deal: the Mars-set story is moving toward a film adaptation with a director and writer named.
Justin Rhodes will write the screenplay. Lawrence and Cameron MacConomy will produce through their about.blank banner alongside Francesco Goedhuis, while Brown will serve as executive producer, according to both outlets.
What is Red Rising about?
The first book follows Darrow, a miner on Mars who belongs to the Reds, the lowest class in a society divided by color. After learning how that hierarchy works, he infiltrates the ruling Golds and joins an effort to bring their system down. That is the novel Paramount plans to adapt; the reports describe a film of the first installment, rather than a deal to film every book.
The series gives the studio a substantial story to draw from. The Hollywood Reporter says six books have been published and a seventh is on the way. Brown said in a 2024 Instagram post that the saga had sold more than six million copies, the outlet reported, although it was unclear whether that number covered the United States or worldwide sales.
Why the Francis Lawrence attachment matters
Lawrence has directed multiple Hunger Games films, experience that connects him to another screen series built around a young protagonist and a rigid social order. His work includes The Long Walk, an adaptation of Stephen King’s novel, while Rhodes’s credits include Terminator: Dark Fate and Secret Level, according to Deadline.
This is another attempt to bring Red Rising to the screen. The Hollywood Reporter says the property was previously set up for a film at Universal and was considered for a television series in the late 2010s. Those earlier plans make the Paramount acquisition a fresh step for the books, but the studio has not announced casting or a production or release schedule.
Red Rising also joins Paramount’s roster of literary adaptations. Deadline points to Children of Blood and Bone, Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow and The Midnight Library among the studio’s other book projects. For now, the confirmed Red Rising plan centers on the first novel and the named creative team.
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Sources and context
- Francis Lawrence To Direct 'Red Rising' Movie For ParamountDeadline
- Francis Lawrence, Paramount Team for ‘Red Rising’ Movie Adaptation (Exclusive)The Hollywood Reporter
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