Paramount sets Red Rising film with Francis Lawrence to direct

Paramount Pictures has picked up the film rights to Pierce Brown's Red Rising novels, with Francis Lawrence attached to direct the first book, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

Lawrence will direct an adaptation of Red Rising, the 2014 novel that launched the dystopian sci-fi series. Justin Rhodes will write the script.

The story follows Darrow, a lowly Red miner on Mars. He learns that his people have been kept enslaved underground while the ruling Gold caste lives in luxury above. Darrow is physically remade to pass as a Gold, infiltrates their society and joins a rebellion to bring down the colour-coded hierarchy, according to Deadline.

Rhodes previously worked with Lawrence developing Netflix's planned Bioshock film. His credits include Terminator: Dark Fate and the Prime Video animated series Secret Level.

Lawrence and Cameron MacConomy will produce through their about.blank banner alongside Francesco Goedhuis. Brown will serve as executive producer, a senior creative role that keeps the author involved without day-to-day control of the shoot.

The books arrive with a large built-in readership. Red Rising is a New York Times bestselling series, with six books published so far and a seventh on the way. Brown said on Instagram in 2024 that the saga had sold more than 6 million copies. He also wrote a comic-book prequel story published by Dynamite Entertainment.

This is not the first screen attempt. Red Rising was previously set up for feature development at Universal, and was eyed as a television series in the late 2010s. That version never reached production.

Lawrence is a familiar hand for big literary adaptations. He has directed five Hunger Games films. His next in that series, The Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping, is set for release on November 20. He also directed The Long Walk, a Stephen King adaptation for Lionsgate, and has signed a deal with Lionsgate for Carry Me to My Grave, an adaptation of a horror novel by Christopher Golden that he is eyeing to direct and produce.

For fans, this means Red Rising joins a busy book-to-film slate at Paramount. The studio will release Children of Blood and Bone, based on Tomi Adeyemi's YA romantic fantasy novel, on January 15, 2027. Its film of Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow is scheduled for November 12, 2027, and it also has an adaptation of The Midnight Library in the works.

No cast or release date for Red Rising has been announced. Deadline acknowledged The Hollywood Reporter as first to report the news.