The Rise And Fall Of The Kingkiller Chronicle Series Should Be A Lesson For All Fantasy Writers

So why did the adaptation fall apart? Well, Rothfuss has been elusive about the third book in the promised trilogy for a while — to the point that many fans have abandoned hope of the series ever reaching any kind of satisfying conclusion. In fact, his own editor said she hadn't read a word of Rothfuss' work in years on a Facebook post, sowing seeds of doubt about whether or not any part of the book even exists. Rothfuss also reportedly raised money for charity by promising a new chapter, which, naturally, never materialized. All of this doesn't exactly instill confidence in Hollywood development execs — no matter how many copies a debut novel sold.

Rothfuss has addressed his lack of punctuality a few times, but the fact remains that maybe he should have stuck a little more closely to his deadline — or stuck to it at all. It definitely seems like Rothfuss didn't expect his first two books to blow up as much as they did, but he doesn't have the clout of a George R.R. Martin, who keeps dangling "The Winds of Winter" in front of his fans but doesn't face any huge consequences for his delays. Martin's earned his place in the pantheon of great fantasy writers — he's the Lev Grossman-dubbed "American Tolkien," after all — with decades of hard labor in the SFF trenches to his name. Rothfuss essentially entered the scene with "The Name of the Wind," so he doesn't have a lot of good will banked to support his cause as he keeps kicking the Book 3 can down the long and winding road.

It's likely that after "Game of Thrones" outstripped its source material, Hollywood is more likely to look askance at unfinished series. That certainly seems to be what happened to Rothfuss' project. This probably isn't the end of the road for "The Kingkiller Chronicle's" Hollywood journey — but it may be the end until the author produces a concluding book, and it's certainly the end of Miranda's involvement. Rothfuss had two bestselling books under his belt and one of the most popular artists on the planet ready to bring his story to the small screen, but he apparently couldn't deliver — and he lost out on a sparkling opportunity as a result.