Deltora Quest

[Wiriamu]

Anyone else on here a fan of Deltora Quest? I've been a fan of the series for years, and even now I love going back and reading the books.
 
So six years ago Emily Rodda, author of the series, announced that she had sold the movie rights for the Deltora Quest books. Sadly, there's been no word on it since, and thus no indication whether or not we might actually be getting some movies or not. But the subject does make me wonder: what would a Deltora Quest film series be like? There has been an anime adaptation of the series, but-in my personal opinion-the films would want to stay as far away from that as possible. I actually wouldn't be opposed to these films being animated, but that doesn't seem to be the way most book adaptations are going these days.
 
Now, the Deltora Quest books I believe technically fall under juvenile fiction-they're not the lengthiest works. As such, I figure that there are one of two routes that could be taken with them:

• Make shorter films-more like 90 minutes or so than the 3 hour format of Harry Potter or the Tolkien novels.
• Combine the plotlines of multiple novels into fewer films. The only problem with this is that you throw off the narrative a bit or risk not giving various events the weight that they deserve. Of course, it would help to mitigate the fact that there are fifteen books to adapt, sixteen if they decided to adapt Tales of Deltora as a separate film.

Now, the question of films naturally leads one to wonder: who would you cast? I've only had a few ideas so far, with some in spoilers due to plot elements if you haven't read the books but are interested in the series:

• King Endon-not sure which actor would be ideal for the role, but I figure you could get a couple roles out of this guy
  to help make the whole Endon/Jarred/Doom thing move believable

• Lief-again not sure of the actor; somebody young since at the start of the series he's sixteen years old.
  You could also have the same actor play Bede if they got around to adapting Dragons of Deltora.

• Jasmine-basically a similar situation to Lief.
  The same actress could also play Faith from Deltora Shadowlands, or if they showed a younger Jasmine in flashback then that actress could play Faith.

• Barda-Manu Bennet: he's definitely got the stature for it, and would be nice for him to be in a good fantasy adaptation after the travesty of The Shannara Chronicles.
• Steven/Nevets-Chris Hemsworth: mainly because he's the only actor I can think of who's pretty built and also has blonde hair-plus he could do the motion capture for Nevets.
• Joyeu-Maggie Smith; I love the idea of a dragon with a cultured British accent.
• Honora-Tilda Swinton; the Emerald dragon's personality calls back her performance as the White Witch.

Thoughts? Feelings? Wondering what the heck Deltora Quest is? Comment below.

[Pomegranate]

I never read the main Deltora Quest books, however, I adored Dragons of Deltora and if it means there's a chance for that to be adapted I am all for it.

What's the rest of the series like? What part(s) would you most like to see adapted to the screen, or what kinda stuff do you think will get people who aren't familiar with the series excited if they see it in a trailer?

[Wiriamu]

I never read the main Deltora Quest books, however, I adored Dragons of Deltora and if it means there's a chance for that to be adapted I am all for it.

 

What's the rest of the series like? What part(s) would you most like to see adapted to the screen, or what kinda stuff do you think will get people who aren't familiar with the series excited if they see it in a trailer?

I also love Dragons, though it baffles me how you have read that but neither of the previous two. The original Deltora Quest would of course be interesting because it introduces the universe and the characters. Admittedly it's just a different spin on some old ideas, but it's great nonetheless. It would be a tricky sell however-I know the series has a following but it's not on the level of Harry Potter or some older fantasy works. Edited August 25, 2017 by Wiriamu

[electrodude]

I read the whole Deltora series and loved it, but right now that was almost a decade ago and I don't remember much from it. One thing I remember is how creative some of the monsters were, for example

 

the guardian in the glass palace who is biologically fused with his guard dogs

.