Last week, Flights Through Alagaësia podcast hosts Chip and Armen were the first to talk to Christopher Paolini about the recent leak and following confirmation of the Inheritance Cycle TV show.

You can listen to the full episode above

It may be possible to glean some further details about the upcoming TV series and its production from the podcast interview. For example, while casting has not officially begun, Christopher does have some names in mind, as do those he is working with. Whether or not these actors end up playing the characters on our screens, we can be sure a lot of thought is being put into who will portray our beloved characters.

In a discussion about the screenplay, Christopher assured anxious fans that studios had learned from the lessons of the previous adaptation. "This will not be that sort of process," he remarked in reference to the 2006 film that, according to him, started as a relatively faithful adaptation by Peter Buchman, but became increasingly distorted by many rounds of input from other stakeholders. Emphasising his status as co-writer, Christopher said he was looking forward doing justice to the story while also learning from and collaborating with some of the best in the industry.

I'm very much looking forward to this because I'm going to be working with people who have been doing this for quite possibly ten, twenty years and written hundreds of successful scripts of their own. I'm viewing this as an enormous learning opportunity for myself.

I also have my other role, which is as the author of the books, and in that role my job is to try to preserve what makes these stories work and what makes these characters work so that when everyone out there watches the show you feel what you felt from the books, and maybe more.

There were smaller morsels of exciting information sprinkled in the conversation, such as when Christopher mentioned "books" in plural, quickly clarifying that the intention would be to have more than one season. This might suggest there will be a season per book, or even that larger books will be split across seasons or into multiple seasons. He also suggested that the later books may require more changes than the shorter first book - but with Christopher on board as a co-writer, we can be sure any changes will keep the spirit of the story alive.

Throughout the interview, Christopher proved his understanding of the contrasts between books and film - something that is incredibly encouraging to hear from an author-turned-screenwriter, and a good sign for the Eragon adaptation. One of the differences Paolini highlighted was that literature is an internal media, where you can get inside the head and understand the motives of characters first-hand, while film and television are external - you see the characters as if you were another person in their world, with no insight to their emotions and thoughts except those they outwardly portray.

The big thing is that without the context of those internal thoughts, those actions end up feeling very flat or lacking context.

It is the understanding of these differences, and the readiness to accept changes to the source material, that make me more confident in the success of the upcoming TV show.

It seems we couldn't have picked a better time to advocate for a new Inheritance Cycle adaptation - as Christopher said, many of the people he's met so far in Hollywood (from concept artists working on To Sleep in a Sea of Stars to, presumably, many people collaborating on the Eragon adaptation) are fans of the Inheritance Cycle after reading it as children. It would be great to see the love and passion from these readers, now professionals in their fields, show on screen.

These guys are working on all of these huge projects, and they're huge fans of Eragon. They grew up reading Eragon. There are people in the industry who love this property and I'm hoping that we'll be able to collect them.

So, what can we expect to hear next from Christopher Paolini and Disney about the adaptation? Christopher thinks it will be a public announcement about who is coming on board as showrunner. From there, it will be "radio silence" while work begins in earnest.

Christopher once again took the opportunity to speak with the community directly and thank them for taking part in the tweet storms.

I said this in my public announcement after the news leaked that, and this is true, this would not have happened without the tweet storms that the fandom organised, so, for that, I am enormously grateful.

I'd like to echo his words and thank you, dear reader, for all your help - I couldn't have done it alone. You helped make this happen, so remember that when you're watching the series!

In his closing remarks, Christopher revealed his inner excitement at the prospect of the series and how things are going so far.

I'm doing a lot of sober talk here and trying to be all reasonable, but there is a fourteen-year-old kid inside of me who is jumping up and down and just screaming with glee.

Of course, he tempered that statement with realistic expectations, given production is in early stages.

You know this is going to be a Disney show. And yeah, I'm not the showrunner, I'm not going to direct the episodes, at least not yet. You know, so there's a lot that's out of my control, but I trust the people I'm working with. Everyone has the best intentions.

He also clarified something not mentioned in his official statement - unless plans change, this will be a live action adaptation, not animated.

This is not the first time Chip and Armen have spoken to Paolini. In addition to their regular chapter analysis, the podcasting duo have monthly "Table Top Talks" with fans of the show as well as the author himself, diving deep into the characters, plots, and themes of the Inheritance Cycle.

Flights Through Alagaësia is available to stream on Spotify, Google Podcasts and Apple Podcasts.

As always, you can chat with us about the upcoming TV show on our Discord server.

After his initial casual confirmation of Variety's article on the 26^th, Christopher has posted a longer and more official announcement via Twitter and YouTube, in which he also confirmed his involvement as co-writer and producer.

Since the leak, Executive producer Bert Salke has also responded to Variety's request for comment, with a similar positive message.

It’s thrilling to be working with Christopher on a Disney + adaptation of 'Eragon'.

Like with Percy Jackson, 20th and D+ are providing a chance for us to translate these stories to film in the way their millions of fans deserve. We’re incredibly excited to find the showrunner/partner who will help us bring the Eragon story to screens around the world.

With Salke's response, everyone named in the article has now come forward with a public statement of confirmation. The buzz is leaving fans with the impression that the project is moving ahead, and more than just a pipe dream.

Transcript of Christopher's tweet

Kvetha Fricaya! Greetings Friends.

As you may have seen, there was an unplanned announcement earlier this week, but yes, it’s true—an Eragon Television series is in development at Disney+, and I’m attached to both co-write and produce! And yes, I’m extremely excited for what the future holds. At the moment, I can’t go into details—it’s still early days with regard to this project—but I can say that I’m very pleased with the team I’m working with at 20th Television, Disney Branded Television, and Disney+. These are smart, passionate people, and I’m looking forward to making the best possible Eragon/Inheritance Cycle adaptation with them.

This has been a long time coming. I can’t tell you how many conversations, meetings, and messages were needed in order to reach this point. And we’re still just at the beginning! However, none of this would have been possible without everyone who has read the books, supported the tweetstorms, and participated in this fandom over the years. So a huge thank you from me to every Alagaësian out there. You brought the thunder.

Disney will have more to say on this adaptation in the near future, but in the meantime, I wanted to confirm the news and to reassure you that I’m committed to making sure that this version of Eragon’s story lives up to your highest expectations.

And of course, as the elves would say, “Atra esterní ono thelduin.”

Christopher Paolini

p.s. Oh, and did I mention that I have two new books coming out next year?

As always, you can chat with us about the upcoming TV show on our Discord server.

Well, we did it everyone. This morning, Variety broke the news that an “Eragon” live-action TV series is in early development at Disney+.

As Christopher confirmed on Twitter and to me personally, I want you to know the movement that began here had an impact greater than you realise on Disney and their decision to go ahead with a new adaptation.

When I talked to him this morning, he said the article was indeed the result of an unplanned leak, but now that it's out there, he is happy to be able to talk about it! Disney should issue a formal announcement soon, so keep an eye out for that as well.

If you want to talk about the upcoming series, head over to #EragonRemake. Thank you again to everyone for helping me out with the tweet storms! We helped make this happen, so remember that when you're watching the series and give yourselves a pat on the back for all your work here.

On the 20^th of June 2021, the Inheritance Cycle community came together in a way I had never seen it do before. What began as a simple mission to demonstrate our eagerness and enthusiasm for a second chance at representation on-screen became a 24-hour live event of music, memes, art, discussions, and debates. It was an unstoppable idea, a beast beyond my control and exceeding any expectations I had when it was a mere idea in my head. How did it come to explode like this, and what did it even accomplish in the end?

The concept was conceived over two years ago, in June 2020. I had seen increasing interest in a new motion picture adaptation of the Inheritance Cycle. Each isolated corner of the Inheritance Cycle fandom – subreddits, individual Twitter tweets, Facebook groups, fan site forums, and Discord servers would independently start their own movement – a poll, a hashtag, a petition, an open letter – but all with no planning or coordination. Very few campaigns got off the ground, and those that gained some traction fizzled out when participants moved on to the next petition. I saw the need for a unified push, one that everyone could engage with, where each voice added to a single message until it could be heard above the background noise of the internet.

After the success of the #DisneyAdaptPercyJackson hashtag, there was another flurry of posts to the r/Eragon subreddit excitedly calling Alagaësians to adopt the #DisneyAdaptEragon hashtag, trying to achieve similar results. I replied to as many as I could, suggesting that organisation and coordination would be required if these efforts were to prove more successful than any attempt we had made in the past. To anyone who wanted to organise such an event, I offered my ideas: Set a time and date, give everyone plenty of notice, and rally around a consistent message. A barrage of positive noise all at once would be more noticeable than the small trickle that we had been broadcasting for so long, I would say. Alas, my call to action went unanswered, with nobody to lead the charge.

Another year passed before I thought… Fine. I’ll do it myself.

It had been months since I had last contemplated the possibility of a new adaptation when I saw a Change.org petition posted to the Inheriwiki requesting more signatures. It was already two years old, only amassing 750 signatures in that time. The cover letter was not even addressed to Disney, who alone had the rights to adapt the material. I shared my thoughts on this to the Arcaena community, lamenting at the fact that this was the best and most current bid for attention our fandom had to offer. I reiterated the need to do something organised, but rather than waiting for someone else to run with the idea, this time I backed it up with a firm statement. Let’s do it.

We began by recruiting the r/Eragon subreddit, which was the largest open group of Inheritance Cycle fans on the internet. There, I planted the idea of an organised tweet storm: a group of people posting a series of related tweets with the same hashtag in quick succession to get something trending. The idea was to make noise and let Disney hear our collective voice. It was the push people needed – seeing just a little bit of forethought and planning made the idea seem so much more attainable. Even Christopher responded to the very first discussion, voicing his support with words that would later become the banner under which we rallied – Bring the Thunder. Emboldened by the support for my idea, I followed that first post with two more confirming a time and date. It was final:

We would bring the thunder on Saturday, the 19^th of June 2021.

From the beginning, I wanted this event to unite all the outlying corners of the fandom. With a series as old as the Inheritance Cycle, countless communities had rose and fell, waxing and waning throughout the early days of the internet. All the old forums and groups that had split, separated, or vanished when disagreements divided, or their servers failed. Like the spirits inside Durza, members had gone their separate ways when their host was destroyed. There was no one place where members of these communities, these fractured parts of the whole fandom, could go to get information. So, I created a new one, at brisin.gr. It became the headquarters of our secret organisation, the Arcaena. Like our namesake, we had a mission, to create and preserve that link to the community. To be a place where devoted fans could learn everything they needed to know to participate and rally around the big countdown on the homepage.

The website doubled as a repository of artwork. In my research I had discovered that tweets containing pictures and videos had greater reach on Twitter, so we began promoting the tweet storm as a way for artists to share their existing work with a wider audience. Like our own Agaetí Blödhren, the event became an inspiration for the creation of new works as well: In preparation for the big day, I put myself through the torture of watching the original Eragon adaptation from 2006 to create a series of meme videos for participants to tweet. Artists renowned in the community created their own art specifically for the tweet storm too, with some of the most popular including a mock-up of how the Disney Plus website would look advertising an Eragon series by David Ballin, a digital painting called “Arya’s Test” by Maxime Bocquier, a collection of Inheritance Project artwork by Jake Smidt, and far too many more to list besides. The headline piece was a music video titled “Bring the Thunder,” a collaborative work that is one I am proudest to have been a small part of.

Conceived by Malte Wegmann, “Bring the Thunder” came together in the last five days before the tweet storm. The song was a collaboration from the start: Composed by Malte, featuring the talented vocals of Salomé "Lune" Hanlon, and presented alongside a motion version of Maxime Bocquier’s “Arya’s Test.” My own contribution was the lyrics telling the story of the fandom's previous experience with a big-screen adaptation and our hopes for the future. It instantly became the official soundtrack of the movement, playing over 250,000 times in 2021. Together, we ensured that Christopher’s words, Bring the Thunder, would become a rallying cry for Inheritance Cycle fans forevermore.

It was in this flurry of unprecedented community creativity that the big countdown timer ticked down. Fans readied their keyboards, recruited their friends, and refined their artworks as if they were Agaetí Blödhren offerings. The preparations were running smoothly, and all was going well. Then, at 2 AM on the night before the event, I got a notification on my phone. It was none other than Christopher Paolini, with whom I had been coordinating the event for three weeks (it was he who chose the #EragonRemake hashtag!). It had been pointed out to him via Twitter that the date we chose on Reddit was Juneteenth. With me in Australia and Christopher being home-schooled, we both admittedly did not know the significance of that date in the United States of America. Together we made the decision to postpone the tweet storm 24 hours to give the biggest possible platform to the people who needed their voices heard on the holiday. We will never know how the tweet storm would have turned out if it had happened as planned a day earlier, but the extra time gave us the opportunity to promote the event just a little bit more before our new starting time:

Sunday, the 20^th of June 2021.

I can only imagine how the thousands of participants felt as they watched the timer tick down to the hashtag reveal. Me? I was too busy to give it a second’s thought. With a multi-monitor battle station that would be the envy of everyone from stockbrokers to film editors, I commanded the generals in the Arcaena Discord server while preparing the live stream on YouTube, answering questions on Twitter, and setting the Brisin.gr webserver to release the final updates to the website. Almost two months of preparation had led to this moment, and I thought I had considered every eventuality – but there was no way to know what complications we would have to overcome until we began.

Then, to stretch the metaphor, silence fell over the battlefield. I was reminded of Farthen Dûr, of Du Völlar Eldrvarya, of Ilirea, and every time our heroes awaited an approaching foe. There was nothing left to do, and whatever happened, it would all be over in a few short hours. Everyone typed out their tweets like archers nocking their arrows, ready to fire on my command.

Hold.

Hold.

Loose! I released the hashtag, and with it, the barrage of tweets, our ammunition directed at Disney. It was a veritable flood of #EragonRemake, so overwhelming that it was impossible to miss. Alongside thousands of fans, and Christopher Paolini himself, I began to post my tweets, simultaneously providing a disjointed live commentary while troubleshooting audio issues. Those problems did not matter though – all the planning and discussion of battle tactics had paid off. I would not have been able to stem the flow even if I wanted to. The waterfall of tweets moving down my screen was so fast that I only saw a fraction of them. The hashtag started trending almost immediately, which meant we could see the total number of tweets as reported by Twitter.

One hour in, at the 12,000-tweet mark, Christopher joined me on the official live stream. Together we shared our wonder at the power of the fandom, the talent and creativity of the community. We could not keep from talking over each other, pointing out our favourite memes and comments as they flew by. We turned the stream into an impromptu question and answer session, tweeting out the answers as more #EragonRemake material. Christopher provided the Arcaena Discord server with over a hundred images of fanart he had been collecting through the years (some that might have never been seen publicly before!), which Arcaena members added to their tweets. It truly became the biggest celebration of community potential that we had ever seen, in ways I could not have imagined in my wildest dreams.

In time, we were joined on the live stream by Malte Wegmann and Maxime Bocquier. We discussed everything we could about a new adaptation of the series, from expenses to timelines to story changes, hyping up the possibility for our viewers. We talked about the continued outpouring of artwork from the community, and how the tweetstorm and “Bring the Thunder” had come to be.

I cannot recount everything that happened – in any case, there is already an 11-hour stream that covers the events blow-by-blow. Suffice to say that when the hashtag last trended that day, we had generated over 55,500 unique tweets, not including retweets or comments, with an extrapolated 20,000 participants based on tweet data. Not only were these numbers far larger than I had hoped possible, but the community was also amazingly imaginative with their tweets. We noticed messages coming in from people who had no idea a tweet storm had been organised, only learning about it when they saw #EragonRemake trending. It meant our message had broken through the bubble of the Eragon fandom to reach latent fans, those who had not given the books a second thought after finishing the series almost a decade prior. Even Christopher expressed the same astonishment, saying the tweet storm was “like a giant, giant present from the fandom” that would “really move things forward” with Disney.

At the time, I knew there were many people I had to thank for making the idea so much more than I could have done by myself. Christopher Paolini, for being the best author a fandom could ask for, always active and engaged. The members of the Arcaena Discord server for being the most supportive group of people while I organised the event, consistently producing valuable suggestions. The r/Eragon subreddit, where the idea incubated before becoming a reality. The artists, not only those I mentioned by name, but also the countless talented people who produced all sorts of content to share. Their work gave the event so much more life and creativity than any other tweet storm I have seen. Those who championed the movement, spreading and promoting it in advance to ensure the turnout would be as strong as it was. And of course, everyone who showed up and tweeted, making the tweet storm truly blow up beyond all our expectations and without whom there would not have been an event at all. Thank you for joining me and making this idea so successful.

But how do we measure that success? To this day, Disney have not publicly acknowledged what we did.

Was it all for nothing?

It was a month later when Christopher mentioned to me that he had had a “response through official channels.” While not a public acknowledgement, Disney received the message. We got their attention. In Christopher’s words, it “really made them sit up and take notice.” Sure, it is not the immediate commitment to a production timeline that some of us may have hoped for, but I knew that was an unrealistic pipe dream anyway.

And I think we achieved something more important than that.

We energised a community that was tired. We brought together people from corners of the internet that had never met. We strengthened the bonds between the fragments of the community that had diminished over years apart. We projected the creative work of our fandom to hundreds of thousands beyond the reach of any one artist. We rekindled the love of a series in fans who had not thought of it in years. We brought the thunder and made noise that was heard loud and clear: We are ready for a second chance. And even if the idea we rallied ourselves around has not yet come to pass, we ignited the hope that one day, it could.

There is nothing better we could have asked for than the unification of a fandom.

In a live stream today, Christopher gave us a cryptic update about the effects of the #EragonRemake tweet storm, and news that we might have our answer from Disney by the end of the year!

Have I had any traction with Eragon and Disney?

Oh, what a great question!

Remember I was telling you that there are those things that I can't talk about because my business partners would get mad at me? Well, that's one of those topics.

I think I can say this. I think I can say this. Those giant tweet storms that the fandom did actually made a difference. Now, whether or not this leads somewhere ultimately I don't know yet, but those tweet storms actually made a difference. So from me to you, all you Alagaësians out there, thank you. And I hope to have something to talk about in the near future.

Let's put it this way: I think I will have a definitive answer on a potential remake one way or another hopefully this year.

You know, personally, I feel like it's time. The film, believe it or not, came out, what, 16 years ago, give or take? And 2023 is going to be the 20th anniversary of the hardcover publication of Eragon. So, you know, the nostalgia fic factor is hitting right about now. Folks who were 16 when Eragon came out are mid thirties, late thirties, just like me. Some of them, you may have kids of your own. It's time! It's time to do it again! And hopefully do it well and have fun.

And heck, if the adaptation for To Sleep happens also, then that would be crazy cool. The only problem is I don't know where I'm going to get enough time to sleep and do all the writing I have to do. I'm just trying to average about 2,000 words a day, and that gets me a ton of stuff.

You can watch the clip or the entire live stream below.

Don't forget we'll be running one final tweet storm next month. Find out more here!

Du Äfthringa Frethyaí, The Secret Storm, was a success! This one was completely organised by word of mouth, with no public announcement posts, and we still managed to reach trending for a few hours. Even Christopher was surprised - he found out just minutes before the scheduled starting time.

Ha! I just found out about this. Five minutes until another tweetstorm: #EragonRemakehttps://t.co/AhtOMimMpP

— Christopher Paolini (@paolini) July 25, 2021

These two successful tweet storms show Disney that we're truly committed and passionate. Du Äfthringa Frethyaí is especially noteworthy as it demonstrates a lot more organic growth than the first tweet storm, which was planned weeks in advance. Browsing the list of latest tweets, one can see that many of the participants had no idea #EragonRemake was a thing at all!

Sources say it's even harder to get an already-trended hashtag trending a second time, so this was an amazing achievement.

Just like last time, the fanart blew us all away and revealed just how talented this community is.

I didn't intend to stream during Du Äfthringa Frethyaí, but by popular request, I did just that. I was first joined by some members of the Arcaena MCAlagaesia Discord server, and then later hosted a Q&A session with Christopher Paolini alongside Maxime Bocquier (@MaxBConceptArt) and Malte Wegmann (@dnbnumbra). You can watch that here!

Thanks for participating once again!

Last week, tens of thousands of Inheritance Cycle fans took to Twitter calling on Disney to show the studio the enormous demand for an #EragonRemake. The results were beyond all expectations I had for the event. When the hashtag last trended, it had over 55,500 tweets - but they're still coming in over a week after, so the true number could be way higher.

Not only were these numbers far larger than I had even hoped possible, the community was also amazingly creative with their tweets. Endless memes, fanart, music, discussions and debates filled our timelines for days.

There are many people I need to thank for making this idea so much more than I could have by myself.

• To Christopher Paolini, for being the best author a fandom could ask for. Always active and engaged, and supporting this movement as much as you could.
• To Malte Wegmann, Maxime Bocquier and Salomé Hanlon for working on the official theme and art. You brought so much excitement to the event with such high quality work. The talent in this community always astounds me, and gives me great ideas for the future.
• To the members of the Arcaena & MCAlagaësia Discord Server for being the most supportive group of people while I organised the event, constantly coming up with awesome ideas.
• To the r/Eragon subreddit, where this idea was incubated before becoming a reality.
• To everyone who created fanart, memes and other amazing content to share on Twitter, bringing so much more life to the tweet storm and giving me great ideas for the future.
• To everyone who shared and promoted this event in advance, to ensure the turnout would be as strong as it was.
• To everyone who showed up and tweeted, making the tweet storm truly blow up beyond all our expectations.

The reaction and result were orders of magnitude beyond anything I expected. Christopher even expressed the same astonishment. You have made this impossible for Disney to ignore. Your contribution has had and will continue to have an amazing impact on the fandom, even beyond a potential new adaptation. Thanks for joining me and making this idea so successful!

~ Jack / Hellomynameis99

Christopher's Thoughts

This was like a giant, giant present from the fandom and it's going to really move things forward.

My team and I have just been absolutely blown away by the responses here, and the memes that are still coming through! The memes really just make it worthwhile.

We made some serious progress today. Thank you to everyone listening, you all did amazing. Go forth, be awesome, and I'll be around.

Looking for something to do? Check out these videos.

In the Media

The #EragonRemake tweet storm has been covered by several news outlets and blogs. This all goes to show that the reach of the tweet storm broke the Twitter bubble and has been seen by the wider internet - it has become impossible for Disney to miss.

Read their articles below!

Eragon Author Urges Fans to Ask Disney for a Proper Adaptation - screenrant.com

Disney Plus remake of Eragon is trending, author chimes in - cnet.com

#EragonRemake Trending on Twitter. Could It Happen? - insidethemagic.net

'Eragon' Author Speaks out on Movie Remake Demands From Fans - popculture.com

“Eragon” Twitter Storm Hopes to Grab Disney Attention - mickeyblog.com

An Eragon TV show on Disney Plus? Christopher Paolini wants it to happen. - comicbook.com

#EragonRemake: Author and Fans Roar for New Eragon Adaptation From Disney - comicbook.com

Everyone Really Wants an 'Eragon' Remake From Disney Plus, but Is It Happening? - Distractify.com

‘Eragon’ Author Encourages Fans to Push Disney for a ‘Proper’ Adaptation - thewrap.com

'Eragon' Author Christopher Paolini Is Totally On Board For A Remake On Disney+ - thethings.com

#EragonRemake trends worldwide as Christopher Paolini leads fans in demanding a series from Disney+ - sportsskeeda.com

Eragon Remake Trending Worldwide As Fans Rally With Author Christopher Paolini - maxblizz.com

Help encourage Disney to create a new Eragon movie or television show! - shurtugal.com

‘Eragon’ Fans Launch Campaign For New Adaptation - nerdsandbeyond.com

Disney has remade ‘Eragon’: Reminisce about the original movie - filmdaily.co

Christopher Paolini Wants Remake of ‘Eragon’ Film - kirkusreviews.com

#EragonRemake Trends as Eragon Fans Bombard Disney for a New Adaptation - movieweb.com

The Tweets

This is just a tiny selection of the tweets we saw during the tweet storm, showcasing great debates and ideas, memes, and amazing artwork from the community that truly made the tweet storm not just a call to Disney for an adaptation, but an event to remember for any fan.

Browse more tweets with the #EragonRemake hashtag.