BWW Previews: TNT to Adapt THE FIFTH SEASON by N.K. Jemisin for Television

This is the greatest time for fantasy fans. The genre is hotter than ever, and Hollywood is racing to scoop up best-selling sci-fi/fantasy series, hoping to share some of the success HBO experienced with Game of Thrones. In just the past month, BroadwayWorld has covered announcements on adaptations for Octavia Butler's DAWN and Nnedi Okorafor's WHO FEARS DEATH.

Now, TNT wants in on the action and has just announced that it is adapting N.K. Jemisin's The Broken Earth Trilogy for TV. The book series begins with THE FIFTH SEASON, which won a Hugo Award in 2016 for Best Novel and was a both a Nebula and Locus Award Nominee. The novel was also chosen by readers as a Goodreads Choice Nominee in the Fantasy genre. Jemisin's Hugo Award made her the first black author to win the prestigious award. The second book in the series, THE OBELISK GATE, won the 2017 Hugo Award this past Friday, securing a second prestigious win for the series. Jemisin was the first author to win back-to-back Hugo Awards in 25 years. The final book in the series, THE STONE SKY, came out in bookstores across the country this past Tuesday and readers can now read the complete trilogy without waiting.

Before THE FIFTH SEASON, Jemisin was well known in the SFF genre for her acclaimed Inheritance Trilogy, which begins with THE HUNDRED THOUSAND KINGDOMS, and fans were abuzz when it was announced that the acclaimed author would begin publishing her second series, The Broken Earth. Her books continue to be solid works full of depth, and her popularity will only grow as new readers find her though the TNT series.

The TV series will be will be executive produced by Dan Friedkin, Tim Kring, and Justin Levy, with Leign Dana Jackson (24: Legacy, Sleepy Hollow) tapped to write. The series has been in production for over a year, since before THE FIFTH SEASON won its prestigious Hugo Award, but has only chosen to announce it now as other studios begin announcing their own upcoming SFF book adaptations.

Here's the book's summary according to Deadline, who first broke the story:

THE FIFTH SEASON is described as an epic drama set in a world where civilization-destroying earthquakes occur with deadly regularity. A small minority of inhabitants has the ability to quiet these earthquakes, but they also can cause them. The series follows three women, each of whom possesses these special, Earth-controlling abilities: Damaya, a young girl training to serve the Empire; Syenite, an ambitious young woman ordered to breed with her bitter and frighteningly powerful mentor; and Essun, a mother searching for the husband who murdered her young son and kidnapped her daughter mere hours after a Season tore a fiery rift across the land.

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