It’s been a few years since reports came out that Ridley Scott (The Martian) with direct a Sword in the Stone spin off centered on Merlin. Today, the project is back in the news.
According to Deadline, the project is still in the early stages of development. Michael Matthews, who directed this year‘s critical hit Love and Monsters has signed on to replace Scott, who had to back out of the project due to scheduling conflicts. Gil Netter is producing from with the latest draft by Chris Weitz, who recently worked on Disney’s live-action adaptation of Pinocchio set to hit Disney+ next year.
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T.A Barron’s Merlin books follow the adventures of the young powerful wizard before he met and became the mentor to the famous King Arthur.
One would imagine that Disney might want to prioritize the Merlin film before the long-in-development Sword in the Stone remake that has 28 Weeks Later director Juan Carlos Fresnadillo still attached direct, so Merlin can already be established as this grand sorcerer. However it has yet to be officially confirmed if these two projects will tie into one another. The studio is also developing a medieval project for Disney+ tentatively titled Knights, this another project Disney could tie into Merlin and possibly establish their own universe.
