According to reports from a Deadline exclusive, Simon Pegg and Nick Frost’s production company Stolen Pictures is going to adapt the Rivers Of London series by Ben Aaronovitch.
The first book of the series was released in 2011 and tells the story of DC Peter Grant who becomes involved in a case for Scotland Yard. He soon discovers that magic not only exists, and is involved in this case, but that he is also able to learn it and solve the case with its help. Aaronovitch’s writing style is witty, dark and humorous — he has written for the cult series Doctor Who, and it shows in the way that he creates stories. So far, the Rivers Of London series consists of nine books and is widely popular not only among fantasy fans, but also fans of crime novels, and dark, British humour. It reads like Harry Potter for adults (who like watching British television), with a lot of possibilities for POC representation in the movie adaptations. Grant himself is biracial, and many of the characters (deities, magicians, etc.) are described as POC. It will definitely be interesting to see who the producers choose to include in this project in order to make sure that that part of the novels will be included in the movies.
Simon Pegg and Nick Frost (who are most famous for their Cornetto Trilogy collaboration with Edgar Wright) both stated that this project has been in the works for a long time, and that the stories are very dear to them. They also mentioned that they want to adapt these books as a TV series, because nowadays these productions are of higher value and give the chance to go into details that movies might miss due to limited run-time. Ben Aaronovitch will also be part of the production team, serving as an advisor and producer.
The first book will be the first season of a series, but so far there is no known production start or release date.
You can read the full interview here.