Back in summer 2016, Skydance Television announced global live-action rights to Sword Art Online in a partnership with Kadowawa Corp with the big hope of bringing the VRMMORPG sci-fi series to television. Skydance Television with has now signed a deal with Patrick Massett and John Zinman writer-producers whose credits include Friday Night Lights, The Blacklist and Lara Croft: Tomb Raider. To work on a Live-Action
Sword Art Online series.
The duo will serve as writers, showrunners and executive producers on the series. Together with Massett and Zinman, they will also be working with Laeta Kalogridis (Avatar, Altered Carbon) who will write the pilot episode and serve as an executive producer alongside David Ellison, Dana Goldberg and Marcy Ross.
Marcy Ross (president of Skydance Television) had a few comments to say about the whole thing, read them down below:
"Patrick and John have shown incredible range in their storytelling capabilities, from subtle character drama to big, world-building action, and we are beyond fortunate that they have joined the Skydance family,"
"We're already deep in development with Patrick, John and Laeta on our larger-than-life Skydance SAO series in which we aim not only to satisfy the franchise's enthusiastic sci-fi and anime fan base but also to appeal to new TV audiences the world over."
Massett and Zinman in a joint statement let everyone know about their excitement to be working on the Live-Action
Sword Art Online Project.
"The fantastical world of SAO offers an unparalleled opportunity to tell stories that resonate on both an epic and human scale. We couldn't ask for better partners than Skydance and Laeta to help us bring this global pop culture phenomenon to new life on television," said Massett and Zinman in a joint statement.
For those of you who are unfamiliar with the
Sword Art Online franchise, here is the official trailer of the series for your viewing pleasure!
Sword Art Online Synopsis: In the near future, a Virtual Reality Massive Multiplayer Online RPG called Sword Art Online has been released where players control their avatars with their bodies using a piece of technology called: Nerve Gear. One day, players discover they cannot log out, as the game creator is holding them captive unless they reach the 100th floor of the game's tower and defeat the final boss. Their struggle for survival starts now.