‘Sword Of Shannara’ TV Show Or Movie? Terry Brooks Explains Why ‘Elfstones’ Starts Season 1

Many Shannara fans might be wondering why Shannara Chronicles Season 1 does not have the word “sword” anywhere in the title. After all, the book, The Sword Of Shannara, launched the entire book series, and fans have been eager for a Sword of Shannara movie release date for ages, but Terry Brooks says the Elfstones Of Shannara was a more a practical starting point, based upon several reasons related to the realities of TV production.

In a related report by the Inquisitr, the Sword Of Shannara author indirectly bashed Game Of Thrones and claimed that comparisons to the Shannara Chronicles should not be “mentioned” within earshot of him.

Besides being the “single most popular book,” Elfstones Of Shannara appeals to more demographics. In a blog post created in March, Brooks notes that the story has “two strong female leads who can satisfy that last part. Amberle and Eretria are good, strong women characters with interesting back stories and mercurial personalities. MTV’s audience should be drawn to that.” The love triangle also appeals to the MTV audience.

Lastly, a Sword Of Shannara TV show would have been constrained by the TV budget, since the story involves multiple large battle scenes, while the Elfstones Of Shannara only has one major battle which must be shown.

“Yes, Sword of Shannara is the first book. Yes, it is a good adventure story. But it has no female characters, involves numerous battle scenes, and provides no meaningful love story. That’s three strikes right there.”

Brooks also believes this approach will set up Shannara Chronicles Season 2, since it introduces a major plot element.

“I might add that Elfstones also offers an introduction to Wishsong, which is crucial to virtually every other Shannara story. So if we intend to use any of those stories down the road, best to get the set up out of the way early so the wishsong can appear by Season Two.”

When speaking to Entertainment Weekly, Terry Brooks also explained why The Elfstones Of Shannara or The Sword Of Shannara would not be turned into a movie.

“This is something I always thought was a good idea because I think it needs more space,” Brooks explained. “You’re talking about a 600-page-plus book. You really need a lot of space to sprawl all over and make it come in under three hours when you’re doing that.”

Assuming that the Shannara Chronicles Season 1 does well and continues onto more of the books in the Shannara series, you would hope that MTV would want to go back and do The Sword Of Shannara. Perhaps one day fans will be treated to a Sword Of Shannara movie?

[Image via Sword Of Shannara book cover]