Mistborn Well of Ascension Howard Lyon artwork

Brandon Sanderson is ready for the next step of Mistborn's script process.

Comprised of two series that began with 2006's The Final Empire, Sanderson's fantasy novel franchise is set on the largely inhospitable planet of Scadrial, whose population is largely situated at the poles of the planet and, in the first trilogy, live in an autocratic dystopian society which a secret group of magic users known as Allomancers fight to overthrow. The second Mistborn series, meanwhile, picked up 300 years after its original trilogy and shifted the focus to Twinborn detectives Waxillium "Wax" Ladrian and his partner Lessie and their adventures.

Sanderson has worked with a variety of studios for the better part of two decades to bring Mistborn to life on screen, with the rights eventually landing at Apple TV along with the rest of the author's interconnected Cosmere universe of novels. In addition to the sci-fi fantasy film, the streamer is in the process of developing a TV adaptation of the author's high fantasy series Stormlight Archive.

Nearly two months after confirming he submitted his screenplay to the streamer, Sanderson offered a major new script update for Apple TV's Mistborn movie in an interview with Collider. The author, who was also asked about his Stormlight Archive series, confirmed he is still involved with the writing process on both, though indicated that he "will probably have a writing partner" on the latter project.

Sanderson went on to confirm that Apple has "given me their feedback" on his submitted Mistborn movie script, which he reveals was "actually secretly the second draft" of the film after he "did a bunch of revisions on the first":

Brandon Sanderson: It's actually like the 18th. I think I was on 1.17 when I turned it in. Apple's had it, and they've given me their feedback. So now my job is revisions. I gotta go, and I gotta find a way to navigate getting what they want into the story.

Sanderson's confirmation that he's underway on the next draft of the Mistborn movie does prove an exciting progression in its development, as well as aligning with his previous update on the script and its feedback. The author denoted back in September that he expected to go through at least three more revisions of the screenplay before it would be ready to be produced, and based on his above comments, it seems there is still some navigation between his original vision for the adaptation and what Apple TV wants.

Vin from Mistborn holds a dagger and fires tons of coins forward using Allomancy.

In the same interview, Sanderson did also express that the two biggest challenges for his Mistborn movie are turning the "200,000-word book [into] a 20,000-word screenplay" and balancing The Final Empire's various tones, which he describes as "one part heist, one part My Fair Lady, one part epic fantasy." However, he did assure that it's been an "easier" process than he expected given knowing the "soul of the story" and what he can keep and excise.

Regardless of how many further drafts the Mistborn film's screenplay has to go through, Sanderson has cautioned that the adaptation is not going to be released any time soon. The author confirmed in September that the movie was "still many years off" due to a combination of the aforementioned script revisions and extensive visual effects that are going to be required to bring his sci-fi fantasy world to life.

Even while the Mistborn movie may still have a ways to go, fans of the franchise do have other new releases to look forward to coming up. Brotherwise Games and Dragonsteel Entertainment's hit Cosmere RPG is about to add a Mistborn expansion on November 4, complete with three hardcovers, while Sanderson also confirmed back in August that he was looking to have the second draft of the start of his Ghostbloods era ready by September, putting it on track for its planned December 2028 publishing.

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Apple TV's Mistborn Movie Gets Crucial Script Update From Brandon Sanderson