Back in 1998, Montana teenager Christopher Paolini began writing a YA fantasy novel entitled Eragon.
The story of a farm boy named Eragon who finds a dragon egg in the mountains and becomes bonded to the dragon (Saphira) that emerges from inside, the book became something of a publishing sensation, and ripe for a big (or small) screen adaptation.
Paolini has now told Eragon's story over four books – The Inheritance Cycle – and last month, it was reported that Disney+ is developing a live-action series, co-written by Paolini, based on the novels.
"This has been a long time coming," Paolini wrote on Twitter after the announcement, and it certainly does seem like an adaptation was a long time in the making. As fans of the novels know, the proposed Disney+ series is not the first time that Eragon has been adapted for the screen.
There was a movie of the same name in 2006, one that at the time was expected to be first instalment of a new blockbuster fantasy movie series. So, while we wait for the new series to go into production, what happened to that original Eragon movie and why were the sequels never made?
On paper, the 2006 Eragon movie looked destined to be a guaranteed hit. A big studio – 20th Century Fox – purchased the rights to Paolini's book and fantasy and science fiction fan Peter Buchman, whose credits include Jurassic Park III, was brought in to write the screenplay.
Stefen Fangmeier – an acclaimed visual effects supervisor who had worked on Terminator 2: Judgment Day, Twister and Saving Private Ryan – made his debut as the movie's director.
The success of the three Lord of the Rings movies earlier in the decade had proved that moviegoers were in the mood for epic fantasy adventures, something Eragon and the follow-up books promised.
There was a mythical land (Alagaësia), dragons, a dark sorcerer named Durza, elves, dwarves, dragon riders, magic and a sinister king – plus the added YA crossover appeal of a teenage boy who becomes part of a bigger quest than he could have ever imagined. 20th Century Fox no doubt thought they had the next Harry Potter on their hands.
Alfred A. Knopf Books for Young Readers The Inheritance Cycle Series 4 Book Set Collection Eragon, Eldest, Brisngr: Eragon; Eldest; Brisingr; Inheritance
The 2006 film adaptation also had a decent budget – reportedly around $100 million – and an impressive cast of actors including Jeremy Irons, Sienna Guillory, Robert Carlyle, Rachel Weisz, John Malkovich and Djimon Hounsou.
A newcomer, 17-year-old British actor Ed Speleers, was cast in the role of Eragon. Over a decade later, Speleers chatted to Digital Spy about his first movie role during an interview for the 2016 ITV series Beowulf that he co-starred in. (Drama fans will also recognise Ed Speleers from his role as butler Jimmy in Downton Abbey and the evil Stephen Bonnet in Outlander, and he has recently been cast in season four of You.)
"My first ever job when I was 17 was about a boy and a dragon and that was terrifying as it was so many scenes with just me and the dragon that wasn’t there – you're reacting to a tennis ball," he recalled.
"CGI is part of the game and it has been part of my whole career – you have to get yourself in the position where you can think and imagine like a five-year-old."
Certainly, the CGI effects were a big part of the movie as Eragon's dragon, Saphira (as voiced by Rachel Weisz) is as much the star as Eragon is. Fangmeier discussed how important the dragon effects were with film magazine Post back when the movie was released.
"[The biggest post production challenges were] dealing with the dragon and all the flying sequences," he said. "Creating the right dragon and its character was crucial... So we did a lot of work on that first, and it was complicated by the fact that we needed three dragons in terms of design: there’s the hatchling, then the teenager, and then the mature adult."
The same motion rig that was used in the Harry Potter movies was used to film Eragon/Ed Speleers sitting on an animatronic dragon and, in the Post article, Fangmeier confirmed that the film had more than 500 special effects shots and post-production, where all the effects were added, took a long 11 months.
Reading that interview back again now, there are some early hints that trouble was brewing.
Firstly, Fangmeier comments that the movie's release was moved from summer to the end of the year so more time could be spent on the post-production.
"We've had more time, but the downside is that that also gives everyone time to change their minds, and elements like the dragon's wing design have been refined and changed right up until the last minute," he said, before adding: "Traditionally, dragons have never been big box office. But I hope we're going to change that now."
Uh-oh.
Despite the release date delays, having an unknown young actor in the lead (well, it didn't hurt the Harry Potter movies) and the movie-going public's apparent aversion to dragon movies, Eragon didn't die at the box office.
It made $249 million worldwide, which would usually be enough to warrant a sequel, especially as the written material to base it on already existed. Fangmeier even told MovieWeb of his plans for two more movies (at the time, Paolini had only completed writing one of the three sequel novels and was working on the second).
"I think one would be best off to write the third film first, and then, being happy with that, going back to the second one and doing all the set-up work that will pay off in the third," he said. "Then probably filming two and three together as they did with Pirates of the Caribbean."
Of course, those sequels never happened. The problem was that people may have gone to see Eragon, but they didn't like it. Fans of the books hated it – and critics weren't too kind either. It currently scores 16% from 126 reviews on Rotten Tomatoes.
Time Out's Nigel Floyd called it "a painful reminder of what fantasy cinema was like before The Lord of the Rings trilogy rewrote the rules", and Film Threat's Pete Vonder Haar wrote that it was "laughably bad, mind-bogglingly derivative and easily one of the worst movies of the year".
Ouch.
Much to the annoyance of the novel's fans, Fangmeier had changed much of the plot bringing it to the screen. "We ended up making a change from the original book, where the final confrontation between Eragon and Durza the villain is hand to hand combat on the battlefield," he told Post.
"The studio felt – and I agreed – that it'd be much more dramatic for a dragon-rider to have the fight in the air. And out of respect for the author and what happens in the sequel, I didn't want to use another dragon, so instead I came up with the idea of a magical beast made up of black smoke that Durza creates and then rides."
Yeah, fans don't like it when you mess with their stories – especially when it changes the ending.
It's also telling that in Paolini's tweet last month he wrote: "I'm committed to making sure that this version of Eragon's story lives up to your highest expectations", hinting that he wasn't fond of the first screen version of his story either.
That comes as no surprise when you consider that the movie adaptation left out entire races (where are the dwarves?), omitted big plot points (fans have listed some of them here), changed the look of Saphira (her scales are an intense blue in the book – her name means sapphire – and are more dull grey-blue in the movie) and forgot to make Elf princess Arya look like an elf.
In 2017, Paolini commented on the movie adaptation on his blog. "I'm glad it was made, since so few books ever get made into movies, and it introduced millions of new readers to the Inheritance Cycle," he reflected.
"That said, the movie reflects the studio and the director's view of the story, whereas the books reflect mine, and everyone is free to enjoy them on their own merits."
Fans of his novels who have spurned the movie due to the performances (though Irons and Speleers are praised, other stars including Malkovich drew criticism), screenplay and unfaithfulness to the source material were vocal enough that the planned sequels were cancelled by 20th Century Fox before pre-production could begin.
Fifteen years after the original movie, those dedicated Eragon fans mobilised once more.
A tweetstorm was organised by the Inheritance Cycle fan community in June 2021, with everyone tweeting #EragonRemake in the hope that Disney – who by then had inherited the rights to Paolini's novel adaptations – would consider taking another look at a screen adaptation of his books.
Following the TV show announcement, it looks like their dreams have come true, and this time Paolini is going to be more involved in how his books are portrayed on screen.
When talking about the 2006 movie on his blog back in 2017, he commented: "It was their [the studio's] money, so they were the ones in charge. If another adaptation ever gets off the ground, you can rest assured I’ll retain as much control as possible."
Will it be any more successful? Only time will tell.
Eragon is available to watch on Disney+, while the TV show adaptation doesn't yet have a release date.
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Freelance film & TV writer, Digital Spy
Critic and writer Jo Berry has been writing about TV and movies since she began her career at Time Out aged 18. A regular on BBC Radio, Jo has written for titles including Empire, Maxim, Radio Times, OK!, The Guardian and Grazia, is the author of books including Chick Flicks and The Parents’ Guide to Kids’ Movies.
She is also the editor of website Movies4Kids. In her career, Jo has interviewed well-known names including Beyonce, Steven Spielberg, Tom Hanks, Kiefer Sutherland, Tom Cruise and all the Avengers, spent many an hour crushed in the press areas of award show red carpets. Jo is also a self-proclaimed expert on Outlander and Brassic, and completely agrees that Die Hard is a Christmas movie.
