A drama series based on Stranger’s Asunda fantasy universe is in development at HBO, reports Deadline. Created by Sebastian A. Jones, the comic continuity – a culturally diverse amalgam of real-world history and mythologies with tropes like magic, elves, dwarves and orcs – manifests through shared-universe titles such as Niobe, Dusu, Erathune, Essessa and The Untamed. The TV project will have Jones serving as a co-writer and executive producer, joined in the latter capacity by Mimi DiTrani.
Yet, it is Niobe that serves as the flagship title with offerings such as Niboe: She is Life and Niobe: She is Death. Indeed, the canon – set on the war-ravaged world, Asunda – is centrally focused on title character Niobe Ayutami, who was introduced in The Untamed. She’s an orphan girl whose parentage stems from two very different nations, maternally from the kidnapped chief of a tribe of elves that live in the West African jungle, and paternally from a king of a powerful Western country that’s in the same vein of England and Europe. Raised in a small desert town, the half-elven Niobe discovers that she possesses the power to unite nations against the powerful forces of an ancient evil. Consequently, she is constantly hunted.
The HBO TV project is a major win for Stranger Comics, an imprint launched by Asunda creator Jones, which was initially helped by Kickstarter campaigns. The prospective series joins HBO during a transitional time when its global juggernaut fantasy/action series, Game of Thrones, will have completed its run after eight seasons, though fields plans for a prequel spinoff series. Moreover, it will arrive in a small screen medium playing field in which Amazon is bringing an amazingly ambitious – purportedly $1 billion-budgeted – adaptation for The Lord of the Rings, adapting the legendary fantasy novels of J.R.R. Tolkien’s Middle Earth mythology and director Peter Jackson’s monumental movie trilogies; a prequel series that will be set thousands of years before those primary titles.
We will keep you updated on HBO’s Asunda television project as the news arrives!