Universal Pictures has announced that it has found a director to kick off its next fantasy franchise. The studio has tapped Ms. Marvel director Meera Menon to direct A Deadly Education. The film will be based on the first book of the “Scholomance trilogy” by award-winning author Naomi Novik.
A Deadly Education follows El Higgins, a young sorceress who is sent to a magic school to learn to control her power. However, this school is nothing like Hogwarts. Students are taught black magic and are trapped inside, only allowed to leave if they manage to survive to graduation. Universal optioned the book for adaptation before it was even published in 2020. Now all three books have been published and are ready to take audiences on a new magical adventure.
In recent years, Menon has largely been a television director. She has directed multiple episodes for hit series like Ms. Marvel, For All Mankind, and The Magicians. She has also directed episodes of Westworld, The Walking Dead, The Man in the High Castle, and GLOW. Menon’s last feature film directorial effort was with 2016’s Equity, which was an official selection at Sundance Film Festival. However, she made her feature debut with the 2013 indie road-trip comedy Farah Goes Bang.
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A Deadly Education’s author, Novik is an award-winning writer, with multiple fantasy book series under her belt. All three entries to the “Scholomance trilogy” ended up as New York Times Bestsellers, with the most recent book being released last September. She has also written the popular “Temeraire” book series, which was set in an alternate-history fantasy series that at one point had Peter Jackson attached to direct an adaptation. Her other books include Nebula Award-winning Uprooted and the Hugo award-nominated novel Spinning Silver.
The upcoming adaptation of A Deadly Education is being adapted by Emily Carmichael and Shantha Susman. Carmichael is best known for writing Jurassic World Dominion, which was the box office hit of this past summer and grossed over $1 Billion at the global box office. Meanwhile, this will be Susman’s feature film writing debut. The film is set to be produced by Todd Lieberman and David Hoberman. Currently, no cast has been announced for the film or any expected production start date.
Stay tuned to Collider for any future updates on this upcoming project. Watch the trailer for Menon’s previous film, Equity, below: