Legendary Wants to Make Movies and TV Shows With Your Favorite Image Comics Creators

For anyone who’s been paying attention to the world of comic books for the past couple of decades, people like Brian K. Vaughan, Kelly Sue DeConnick, and Matt Fraction are rockstars. Now all three of them have deals with Legendary to produce original content and adapt some of their beloved comic properties into movies and TV shows. Could this mean that a Saga TV series or a Sex Criminals movie could be in our future?

Brian K. Vaughan

According to The Hollywood Reporter, Vaughan has signed a three-year deal with Legendary Entertainment to adapt his previous work and “create new titles for film and television”. The deal is huge – in the eight figure range, meaning at least $10 million – and “represents the largest overall film and TV pact to date for a comic book creator.” (Cut to: Mark Millar learning this news and screaming.)

Vaughan is one of the best writers in the business. Y: The Last Man, Saga, Paper Girls, Ex Machina, Runaways – Vaughan has his hands on all of these titles and many more, and is widely hailed as one of the most visionary and creative minds in comics. He also has several credits in the world of television, having been a writer on ABC’s mega-hit Lost and later the showrunner of CBS’s Under the Dome. He’s proven capable of being creatively successful in more than one medium, which is more than you can say for someone like, say J.K. Rowling, who jumped into screenwriting for the first time with the Fantastic Beasts films.

Y: The Last Man is already getting the TV treatment at FX after years of studios trying to launch it as a movie, but the idea that Vaughan could be developing Saga – a graphically violent and sexual sci-fi space opera with stunning visuals, compelling characters, and one hell of a premise – into a long-form TV show is enough to make my heart leap out of my chest. Vaughan and co-creator/artist Fiona Staples have been adamant about not adapting that property in the past, but now that this deal has gone through, they just might change their minds about that. And Tessa Thompson has already expressed interest in starring, so maybe that’ll actually happen. As someone who’s been following his work for years, I’m psyched at the possibility of seeing Brian K. Vaughan movies come to theaters.

Kelly Sue DeConnick and Matt Fraction

Meanwhile, Deadline reports that Kelly Sue DeConnick and Matt Fraction’s Milkfed Criminal Masterminds company has aligned with Legendary Television for a two-year deal which will “adapt several of their award-winning, creator-owned comics, as well as produce exclusive, original projects developed by the duo for television across traditional and non-traditional platforms.”

DeConnick is perhaps best known for revamping Captain Marvel (providing the inspiration for the upcoming Marvel Studios movie), and she’s also the co-writer of Image Comics like Bitch Planet and Pretty Deadly. Fraction is well-known for his run on Hawkeye for Marvel, and he also has Casanova, ODY-C, and Sex Criminals on his resume over at Image. The idea of this powerhouse husband-and-wife team collaborating to bring any of those non-Marvel projects to TV or creating a brand new concept for the small screen is super exciting.

All three of these creators are famously picky and rightfully protective of their work, so the fact that they’re all teaming up with Legendary is a massive “get” for the company. Here’s hoping we’re all basking in the fruits of their labor as soon as possible.

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