Rick Riordan’s savage response to what ‘in development’ really means for The Kane Chronicles

The Kane Chronicles is getting another shot at the screen, but Rick Riordan has made it very clear that people shouldn’t start celebrating just yet.

A live-action adaptation of Riordan’s Egyptian mythology trilogy is currently in development at Disney+, according to Deadline. Riordan will create the series with Angela Robinson, whose credits include How to Get Away with Murder, True Blood and The L Word.

The Kane Chronicles is a trilogy made up of The Red Pyramid, The Throne of Fire and The Serpent’s Shadow. The story follows siblings Carter and Sadie Kane, who are powerful magicians and descendants of the Egyptian pharaohs Narmer and Ramses the Great.

The books are based on Egyptian mythology and take place in the same wider universe as Riordan’s other series. Those include Camp Half-Blood Chronicles and Magnus Chase and the Gods of Asgard.

For the adaptation, the story will follow Carter and Sadie as they deal with Egyptian gods in modern world. The series’ logline says, “When their father unleashes the god of chaos and vanishes, the estranged Kane siblings must master their inherited Egyptian magic, forge unlikely alliances, and rescue their father before warring gods can wreak havoc on our modern world.”

The Kane Chronicles is being produced by 20th Television. Rick Riordan, Rebecca Riordan, Angela Robinson, Ellen Goldsmith-Vein and Jeremy Bell are all attached as executive producers.

The books were previously being developed as films at Netflix. That version didn’t move forward, and the rights reverted to Riordan in 2024. The property has now moved to 20th Television for development as a TV series instead.

Rick Riordan’s response is basically a reality check

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Riordan took to Instagram to explain what is actually happening. He wrote, “Moderating expectations for those, like me, who aren’t fluent in TV-industry-speak and get easily confused! “In development” / “in the works” does NOT mean we have a series order or a green light.”

He added,  “It means Disney paid to have some sample scripts written. That happened over the course of the last year.”

Riordan then explained, “Now the upper-level executives are considering them and deciding whether or not to green-light the project. From what I have seen, the industry pays untold millions of dollars each year to develop potential projects like this, most of which never see the light of day.”

He went on to make the situation even clearer. He said, “Only a tiny fraction of projects ‘in development’ are ever green-lit and filmed. So this isn’t a sure thing by any means, but Angela is amazing!”

Riordan also made sure people didn’t connect the Kane Chronicles news with the future of Percy Jackson and the Olympians on Disney+.

“And no, this has no bearing one way or another on the future of Percy Jackson TV on Disney+,” he wrote. “I suspect that will all come down to viewer numbers for season three, out in November.”

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