Francis Lawrence To Direct 'Red Rising' For Paramount — SkimNews
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- Paramount acquired film rights to Pierce Brown's New York Times bestselling Red Rising sci-fi series and attached Francis Lawrence to direct the first book as a film.
- Justin Rhodes — a writer-producer with credits including Terminator: Dark Fate and Prime Video's Secret Level — will write the screenplay.
- Francis Lawrence and Cameron MacConomy will produce for about.blank alongside Francesco Goedhuis; author Pierce Brown will executive produce.
- Red Rising follows Darrow, a "Red" miner on Mars who discovers his people are enslaved by the ruling Gold caste and is remade to infiltrate Gold society to lead a rebellion against the color-based hierarchy.
- The adaptation joins Paramount's pipeline of book adaptations: Tomi Adeyemi's Children of Blood and Bone (January 15, 2027), Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow (November 12, 2027), and The Midnight Library.
- Lawrence directed five Hunger Games films — including The Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping (November 20) — and just delivered Stephen King's The Long Walk for Lionsgate; he also recently inked a deal with the same studio for Carry Me to My Grave.
Why it matters: Paramount is stacking book-to-screen YA-adjacent IP, with Lawrence — whose Hunger Games track record is the closest existing template for a color-caste rebellion saga — reteaming with the genre-adjacent space. Brown exec-producing keeps the author's voice in the room during development, and Rhodes brings action-cred from Terminator: Dark Fate and Secret Level to a story built on infiltration, combat, and political hierarchy.
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