Raimi and Tapert were searching for a project and came upon Terry Goodkind 's Sword of Truth series.
It's very popular with the fantasy paperback set. I'll admit that I haven't read the books, but I'm told that the story is rich and filled with numerous characters and storylines. The first book is called Wizard's First Rule , which was also the working title of the television series. The first season of 22 episodes will cover the events of that book. If everything goes well, the second season will follow the second book. So the decision was made to change the name of the show. Terry Goodkind remarked that everyone would shorten the name of the show to & ldquo;Wizards," which is a problem because the story isn't primarily about wizards. I wonder why they didn't stick with " The Sword of Truth ." Obviously Goodkind thought it was a good name for the series of books. I think it sounds kind of generic, kind of cheesy. The new name, Legend of the Seeker , makes me think "Who's the seeker? What are they seeking? Isn't the seeker a quidditch position? & rdquo;
Sam Raimi says they will be shooting in his old stomping grounds of
New Zealand
. That location has served fantasy well over the years.
Lord of the Rings, Narnia, Xena
, and
Hercules
were all shot there. It has great, expansive outdoor locations. Casting was
also announced at the panel, but I didn't recognize the names of any of the actors or characters.
Jay Laga'aia (Captain Typho in Star Wars Ep II and III) is Chase. Bruce Spence is Zeddicus Zu'l Zorander. Craig Parker is Darken Rahl and Bridget Regan is Kahlan.
I get the impression that the books are pretty serious. Raimi has a great talent for campy humor, so I look forward to seeing what balance he strikes. I also wonder how long it takes for there to be a Bruce Campbell or Lucy Lawless bit part. Here's a trailer (also linked above) they didn't show at the Con... not sure why.
