Fantasy author Brandon Sanderson has finished the first draft of his screenplay for a Mistborn film, part of the wide-ranging deal he signed with Apple in January to adapt his Cosmere book universe for screen. He confirmed the news on X, having hit his own July deadline just in time for the 20th anniversary of the original novel, Mistborn: The Final Empire. The milestone matters because the film is intended as the flagship project for Apple's broader Cosmere adaptation push, with the fate of a planned Stormlight Archive television series resting on Mistborn's success.

Mistborn: The Final Empire follows Vin, a young thief who discovers she has powerful magical abilities, as she joins a crew plotting to overthrow the immortal tyrant known as the Lord Ruler. Sanderson has said he is modelling his approach on DC Studios boss James Gunn, aiming for a tightly worked script that avoids costly reshoots, and has pledged to stay faithful to the source material rather than inventing new scenes. Alongside the screenplay, the prolific writer has also recently completed a new Mistborn novel, "Ghostbloods," and "Songrise", the second book in a co-written sci-fi trilogy, with his next Cosmere release, The Fires of December, due out on 8 December.