TV Series instead of Films

Here are my thoughts.. Instead of choosing one or the other, I honestly believe that Evergreen should go the 'Marvel' route. By that I mean the following:

1- Start the universe off with a movie, co-produced with a major studio or production company. HBO would be my first choice, as they have shown in GOT that they will commit heavy resources to an established work and do it right. You could (and should) make the movie all about Honor. Start with her adoption of Nimitz, cut to the Academy and the attempted rape and a scene of her owning tactics class, then some time from Ms. Midshipwoman. That's the first half hour or so of the movie, introducing her, Nimitz, Pavel Young, and the universe. Then cut to her getting Fearless and the OBS story, which would be the other ~90 minutes. If done right and promoted, it would come out in May/June and be fairly popular.

2- That fall, after the movie is released, the TV series starts. It picks up with Honor of the Queen, and includes flashbacks (akin to the CWs Arrow) that help fill in gaps. E.g., the 'With One Stone' could be flashbacks that culminate in Honor using her wedge to communicate FTL just before the series reveals that Manticore has that tech.

3- Every 2-3 years another feature-length movie comes out about one aspect of the universe. For example, the second movie could be entirely about the overthrow of Haven and the establishment of the CPS, with largely all different characters and using elements of season 2 (SVW) seen from Haven's perspective. The third movie could be Honor stranded on Hades and their escape, etc...

The concept would be that the TV series would tell the larger story while the movies would be more individual plot based. From a financial perspective, this would be attractive as the studio would only be committed to one movie and one season of TV, and if it bombs they can stop.. However, if it pays off they can pump out a blockbuster every 2-3 years while keeping fans involved on a weekly basis via the TV series. Additionally, the TV series route would be a natural for spin-offs, with originally minor characters in the 'Honor Harrington' based series being able to gain their own series, e.g. The Flash and Legends of Tomorrow. Think of follow on series focusing on Theisman/Haven and Zilwicki/Cachet after the initial introduction of the characters in the movies and/or the main series.

It would allow for a multi-platform product which, if it reaches people the way GOT has, would be worth billions. Additionally, think about the possibilities of a children's spin-off series focusing on the Treecats, stand-apart movies based upon other aspects of the universe, etc... It would be the best of both worlds, with the story being told in depth via the TV series while the movies punctuate the high points of the universe.

Commodore Oakius wrote:As for the cast I know we had a hard time picking people for honor and for the other roles but... Given the time frame between each book, mixed with the hopfully single off season between the seasons, I think it may be best to do a full cast reboot for each season.
It would hard to find a cast willing to work almost 20 seasons, and do those 20 seasons sho they dont age to the point of being unrealisticly the same person. I think a cast reboot for each book would make an obvious statement, "Given the nature of the things in the book, like prolomg, an time constrainst on filming, we decided not to have the same cast to mix it up so that they can continue to appear the way they should age wise in the books."
Let my lynching begin.

If they actually make a multi-season series, the cast will be a troupe of relatively unknown actors. Our "casting" thread was a fun bit of fantasy, but there's no way that well-known stars would commit to a project this size, and the budget for big names would simply not be there. Some of those unknowns might find this an opportunity to "break out" and make a name for themselves, though. If the series catches on, they might stay the course. Look at how long some soap opera stars stayed with the same show.

Consider also that in the Honorverse, the focus is on a relatively small group of core characters, with many others who appear for a while, then go off to another posting, only to turn up again later in the plotline. The Honorverse saga has a true "cast of thousands", but most of them are off screen more then on. You might get a few big names to play these "occasional" characters (Donald Trump as Klaus Hauptmann?). In between their appearances in "Honor Harrington", they would have time for other projects.

IMHO, re-casting a bunch of characters would add to the potential confusion over who's who, and I don't think it would be necessary. Only the core characters would have to commit to full-time on the series.

There is much to be said for a multi legged approach to the Honorverse. David has done such a wonderful job of prolifically producing material, you would need a company who would be very committed to the long haul. The Talbot cluster could be it's own series, and the establishment of Manticore, with Travis Long, another, just as Star Trek did. The thing missing is a committed company willing to fund it, with DW's permission. When that happens, it should take off. But that company is still missing.
The state of 3D is such the quality could be amazing, and lend new life into the Sci Fi genre. I would hope whoever does it, does it with the same attention to detail and quality as Prelude to Axanar did. In fact, Rob Burnett and company would be the perfect people to do this, they understand cost and discipline. Richard Hatch also would be a great one to helm this, his diatribes on the waste and excesses in movies is heartwarming, and elicits great respect for the mans common sense.

Howdy all,

Started re-reading the whole series for the second or third time, and was thinking about the "impossible" nature of adapting this to a visual medium. I see that comparing it to GOT is not an original idea, but hear me out.

It occurs to me that Game of Thrones might serve as something of a role model for adapting the series to television - it's a high fantasy show stitched with periodic large scale battles, and apparently there is quite a bit of political manuevering and drama. I haven't personally watched the show, and I realize a lot of the baser appeal is naked Emilia Clarke, but HH does have gore aplenty if it's a 100% faithful adaptation (pulser darts and tribarrels, anyone?).

In my mind, I see the miniseries four hour (3 running time hours) pilot being On Basilisk station, with each season afterwards tackling 2-3 books. Later events and characters could be moved up and serve as B plots or invert the A/B structure to give us a breather, fluff out seasons (budget), make characters more memorable, etc. For example, Haven would be a nameless faceless threat in On Basilisk Station, but we'd start getting introduced to the Legislaturalists and the soon to be Committee of Public Safety from the start of Season 1, so that near the end of the season we can get the punch of what happens in Haven alongside whatever is happening to Honor at the moment.

The focus of the series would be solely on the main-line Honor books, and would then probably fold in the Shadow series when it got to that point, since Henke would have been part of the main show from the beginning.

Also, is there a spot besides the Honorverse wikia for a detailed synopsis of each book?