With many fans ready to write Netflix’sThe Witcheroff before the next season even airs because ofWitcher’s struggles with pacing and plot, and many other fantasy shows struggling to find their footing for similar reasons, it’s time to wonder what series the major streaming platforms will snap up in hopes of finding the next hit adaptation. One particularly ideal candidate is a series of Australian fantasy novels that will turn 30 years old in 2025:Sabriel.
Fantasy is having a bit of a moment right now, in ways both positive and negative, largely thanks to Netflix.Netflix was the first streamer all-in on adapting fantasy book series, such asShadow & Bone,Cursed,Sandman, and others. However, Netflix has also been quick to give the ax to these same series,canceling shows even as beloved and successful asShadow & Bone. Still, it seems Netflix is still high up on fantasy, with the newly-acquiredQuicksilveradaptation a promising replacement forThe Witcher.Even so, there’s an even better fantasy adaptation for Netflix to turn to ifThe Witcherfizzles out.
Garth Nix’s Old Kingdom Series Has Everything The Witcher Does, And More
Magic, Swords, Monsters, World-Ending Stakes, And A Wise-Cracking Sidekick
Garth Nix’sThe Old Kingdomseries, known asAbhorsenin North America, is a standout example of the genre, packed to the brim with all the ingredients for a smash streaming series.The Old Kingdomseries starts with a trilogy of books –Sabriel,Lirael, andAbhorsen– that follow the eponymous Sabriel and her family as she takes up the weighty mantle of her forebears and becomes the Abhorsen, the Kingdom’s sole defender against the predations of the horrifying, restless Dead and other twisted Free Magic constructs. Using the dark art of necromancy,Sabriel must stand against the Dead as they try to destroy the Kingdom once and for all.
Author Garth Nix picked the name “Abhorsen” as a reference to William Shakespeare’sMeasure for Measure, in which there is an executioner by the name of Abhorson.
These books have quite a few similarities toThe Witcher,but clearly aren’t derivative. Sabriel fills the role of a protagonist that uses magic and swords to battle horrible eldritch foes; she develops romantic tension with Touchstone, an even terser swordsman than Geralt with a mysterious past. And rounding out the initial protagonists is the wise-cracking third wheel, except instead ofThe Witcher’s real-life troubadour Joey Batey, he’s a talking cat named Mogget with his own share of mystical secrets.
The Titular Old Kingdom Is Only Half Of The World Of The Books
Beyond The Wall, There’s An Even Stranger Place With No Magic At All
The Old Kingdom, where magic and monsters abound, is only a part of this world; the Kingdom ends at the Wall, a giant stone barrier reminiscent of Hadrian’s Wall in England, past which magic fails.On the other side of the Wall is Ancelstierre, a country reminiscent of early-1900s England, right down to having private schools and a cultural obsession with tea. Sabriel herself is originally from the Old Kingdom, but was raised in Ancelstierre, and when she’s forced to take up her legacy as Abhorsen, she finds her education completely failed to prepare her for what is to come.
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The series plays well with the juxtaposition between Ancelstierran technology and Old Kingdom magic; with Sabriel only having a perfunctory knowledge of her homeland,she makes an excellent viewpoint character as she struggles to keep up with everything she learns on the fly. And, of course, her servant, the magical Mogget, is only ever as helpful as one would expect a cat to be.
Netflix Would Be Wise To Bring The Magic Of The Old Kingdom To The Screen
Audiences Clearly Want More Girls With Swords In Their Coming-Of-Age Stories
With magic that literally lives in drawn symbols, enchanted bells that charm or even destroy the undead, and a whole parallel world of Death for the protagonists to explore,The Old Kingdomhas a unique and brilliant approach to fantasy that would be engaging to fans ofThe WitcherorGame of Thrones. More importantly, the placing of Sabriel as a protagonist would resonate similarly to other female-led fantasy films likeNetflix’s hitDamselor Hulu’sThe Princess.
The placing of Sabriel as a protagonist would resonate similarly to other female-led fantasy films likeNetflix’s hitDamselor Hulu’sThe Princess.
Sabrieland its sequels are ripe for adaptation from any network looking to try gambling on a new series in today’s streaming ecosystem; author Garth Nix apparently courted several film deals in the mid-2000s, but no news has surfaced of any other attempts in some time. In the meantime, the series expanded past the original trilogy with the prequelsClarielandTerciel & Elinor, the sequelGoldenhands, and several pieces of short fiction, all of which are ripe for adapting, if only someone would take the chance. If Netflix is smart, they’d snap it up as a replacement forThe Witcher, but honor the source material better this time.
The Witcher
The Witcher, released in 2019, follows Geralt of Rivia, a mutated monster hunter navigating a turbulent world where humanity’s darker nature often eclipses the monstrous.
