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Mercedes Lackey’s series of novels set in Valdemar is being adapted for TV.

Kit Williamson and Brittany Cavallaro are creating the show for Radar Pictures. The first season will be based on the Last Herald Mage trilogy – the1989 novel Magic’s Pawn, and its sequels Magic’s Price and Magic’s Promise – which follow the persecuted and abused son of a Valdemaran noble, who finds acceptance at Haven when he is Chosen by the Companion Yfandes – Companions being equine creatures that bond and can bring out magic.

Lackey told Deadline, “I have hoped for decades that The Last Herald-Mage would be adapted for television. Now that Radar has optioned the trilogy, I am nearly breathless with excitement. I could not have chosen a better organization to take my work in hand, and Kit and Bri, the producers, absolutely know both their stuff and the material. I love the fact that this is going to be a longform series: episodic TV gives the story all the room it needs. I hope our fans will be as thrilled to see their favourite characters come to life as I am.”

“Vanyel in The Last Herald Mage series was one of the first gay characters I encountered, and as a recently out 16-year-old I can’t stress enough the impact that these books had on me. The Valdemar series was far ahead of its time in the portrayal of LGBTQ characters, and Lackey’s writing afforded them a level of depth and complexity that is still very rare, especially in genre storytelling,” said Williamson.

“It’s an absolute dream to be adapting the Valdemar books alongside Radar Pictures and Kit Williamson. Twenty years ago, Kit and I became friends at boarding school, and bonded over our love for Mercedes Lackey’s work, and we’re so excited to begin the process of bringing it to the screen,” Cavallaro added.