I am Lucas's Unbridled Hubris — How to Make an Earthsea Adaptation that Doesn't Suck

Hey! Have you ever thought you could tell a story than its creators? I know I have. I am Lucas's Unbridled Hubris!

I know I've spent a lot of time writing about Earthsea this year. That's partly because I first read the series this year and possess the zeal of a new convert. BT-Dubs, have you heard the good news about Ged, also known as Sparrowhawk, formerly the Archmage of Roke? In any case, how can I put this diplomatically? Both of the major Earthsea adaptations kinda suck.

It was recently announced that A24 is developing a new miniseries with Jennifer Fox (whose work I am not familiar with) as a showrunner. And it turns out that Fox received Ursula K. Le Guin's blessing before her death in 2018. Now, you might say, "But, Lucas, Hallmark and Studio Ghibli also had Le Guin's blessing going into production, and both of their adaptations were disappointing at best." And you would be correct. However, I'll reserve judgment on this new adaptation until it actually is finished and I've seen it.

What I really want to talk about here are the lessons that anyone setting out to adapt Earthsea can learn from the failures of previous adaptations, and offer some suggestions for avoiding those same pitfalls.

Earthsea How Don'ts

Look, I know I've already covered the problems with both of these adaptations, so I'll try to be brief. Here are some things to not do in your Earthsea adaptation:

• Don't try and make Earthsea into something it's not. That doesn't mean you have to slavishly transpose the novels onto the screen, but be aware of what you're adapting, why you like it, and how to best communicate that. Don't be like Hallmark and try and try to squeeze it into a Lord of the Rings shaped hole. Don't be like Ghibli and discard the series' more contemplative themes to squeeze in an action finale.
• Don't whitewash it. I mean, c'mon, we've read the books. Most people from the archipelago have varying shades of brown skin. Except for the actors playing Ogion (Danny Glover) and, oddly, Tenar (Kristin Kreuk) the entire cast of Hallmark's miniseries is white (here's a crowd scene on Gont, whose residents Le Guin describes as having reddish-brown skin). And aside from Ged (who let's be honest looks like he's just got a good tan) most of the characters in the Ghibli film read as white.
• Don't try to Frankenstein the various entries into a single unit. By combining the first two books into a single story, Hallmark basically jettisoned everything that made Tombs of Atuan and the character of Tenar interesting. By squeezing in elements of several other novels, Ghibli made Tales of Earthsea unfocused and meandering.
• Don't just default to a medieval fantasy aesthetic. Seriously, the Hallmark miniseries just looks so boring. The person in charge of set design and costuming clearly didn't care about making the film stand out or be memorable. Their Earthsea doesn't feel like a place with it's own history and traditions, it feels like a place with a blander version of European history. The Ghibli film is slightly better in this regard, with the opening credits playing over striking mosaics.

Okay, so that's only four things. There are a number of other faults in these adaptations, but I'm trying to avoid nitpicking and focus on the larger problems that plague both. "Don't write a lousy script." and "Don't hire talentless hacks." Should both go without saying.

Earthsea How Dos

You might think that I'm going to be lazy and just pose counter-examples to those How Don'ts above. I'm not. I mean, I think I'll stick with four points for the sake of parallel structure, but I feel like those How Don'ts already imply a set of How Dos of their own. And I guess these How Dos will also imply a complimentary set of How Don'ts:

• Do focus on the characters. Each novel in these series has its own viewpoint character who should be the focal point of your adaptation. Ged (A Wizard of Earthsea), Tenar (The Tombs of Ataun and Tehanu), Arren (The Farthest Shore), Irian ("Dragonfly"), and Alder (The Other Wind). Earthsea doesn't really give readers an audience stand-in character, but these characters are all learning something about the world and themselves in the course of the story and help keep the reader anchored to the plot.
• Do identify the core themes and ideas of each story. Or to be event more basic. Figure out what it is about the series that speaks to you. It may not be exactly the same as what speaks to everyone else but it's your adaptation, you get to make choices about what does and doesn't make the cut. 
• Do think about how the setting (an archipelago) will affect the story. How different are the islands from each other culturally? Should people sound like they speak a different dialect? A different language? How differently do they dress?
• Do think about how you'd like to depict magic. In the books it's largely verbal and requires practitioners to learn a new language. Not exactly cinematic, I know, but it's your job to work out the details.

So, yeah, mainly it's a lot of thinking. But you want to think, you want the world depicted in your adaptation to have verisimilitude. Do think about how to spell verisimilitude. Have you ever noticed how many "i"s there are in that word. It doesn't seem right. The point is, how much the viewer buys into your Earthsea is dependent on how much work you've done to make it real-ish.

Earthsea I Wishes

So, yeah, with all of that generalization out of the way, what kinds of decisions would I, Lucas, make if I could unbridle my hubris and dictate my wishes for an Earthsea adaptation?

I only have two specific casting suggestions. That said, if I were in charage, I'd cast different actors to play the characters at different stages of their life. Like Moonlight, don't use CGI or makeup to make the characters look younger or older like say, Tron Legacy.

Tenar in Tombs of Atuan: Dafne Keen. She was fantastic in Logan where she demonstrated both the fierce tenacity and the vulnerability necessary to play the teenage version of Tenar. However, since she's currently staring in HBO's HIs Dark Materials, that show would probably have to get the axe for her to be available.

Arren/Lebannen in The Other Wind: Lakeith Stanfield. I think it was mostly his performance as Cassius Green in Sorry to Bother You that makes me think he'd be a good choice. Like Cassius, Lebannen is confident and has some aptitude, but is also sort of faking it until he makes it. He's also finds his life options constrained by the system, though in very different ways.

The structure of an adaptation is important. I'd say that a mini-/limited series with hourlong-ish episodes would be the way to go.

A Wizard of Earthsea would be three episodes:

1. Ged studies magic and unleashes the Shadow
2. Ged flees the Shadow
3. Ged hunts the Shadow

The Tombs of Atuan, would also be three episodes:

1. Tenar is trained as a high priestess and condemns three men to starve in darkness
2. Tenar traps Ged in the Labyrinth
3. Tenar joins Ged and escapes the Labyrinth

I would actually combine The Farthest Shore and Tehanu into four episodes.

1. Ged and Arren investigate the disappearance of Magic, Tenar adopts Therru
2. Ged and Arren drift aimlessly, Tenar and Therru move into Ogion's house
3. Ged and Arren confront Cob in the dry lands, Ged returns to Gont and is nursed back to health by Tenar
4. Tenar and Ged deal with their feelings for each other, Tenar tries to protect Therru

Tales from Earthsea would be three episodes, featuring both live action and animation:

1. "The Finder" (live action)
2. "Darkrose and Diamond" (live action) "The Bones of the Earth" (animation)
3. "On the High Marsh" (animation) "Dragonfly" (live action)

The Other Wind would be two episodes

1. Alder seeks out Ged and continues on to Havnor where he finds himself immersed in court life and parlaying with dragons
2. Alder joins Lebannen et al. on an expedition to Roke to figure out what exactly is going on with the Dry Lands, etc.

Or, that's how I'd do it, anyway. Well, I guess it's time to put a bridle back on my hubris and return to my regularly scheduled blogging. Be sure to come back Friday for A Year of Unfortunate Events.