Published Jul 25, 2026, 11:15 PM EDT
Dhruv is a Lead Writer in Screen Rant's New TV division. He has been consistently contributing to the website for over two years and has written thousands of articles covering streaming trends, movie/TV analysis, and pop culture breakdowns.
Before Screen Rant, he was a Senior Writer for The Cinemaholic, covering everything from anime to television, from reality TV to movies.
After high school, he was on his way to become a Civil Engineer. However, he soon realized that writing was his true calling. As a result, he took a leap and never looked back.
Quite a few Brandon Sanderson adaptations are in the works, and one among them seems to be the perfect combination of Top Gun and Ender's Game's best story elements. The adaptation in question is being developed for the small screen and has the potential to become the next big sci-fi epic.
Apple TV signed an exciting deal with Brandon Sanderson, which involves the development of two major adaptations: The Stormlight Archive and Mistborn. While adaptions of both of these book series are incredibly exciting, sci-fi fans must also keep an eye on the upcoming TV adaptation of Brandon Sanderson's Skyward books.
Rightfully described by Brandon Sanderson as a combination of Ender's Game and Top Gun, the Skyward book series features incredible aerial battles with the space opera scale of some of the most ambitious sci-fi shows, like The Expanse. Like Top Gun, it primarily centers on the young trainees at a fighter pilot academy who have very specific call signs.
As a part of the Defiant Defense Force (DDF), the young pilots put it all on the line in Skyward to ensure they can protect humanity from an alien threat. Even the main character, Spensa, in Skyward is initially portrayed as an underdog who, like Maverick, flies in the long shadow of her father.
The Brandon Sanderson story's Ender's Game parallels emerge when it shows how the remnants of humanity have been cornered by an enigmatic alien threat. Similar to the Orson Scott Card books, Skyward, too, features young teenage characters in gruesome military roles.
Like Ender, Spensa, too, becomes a victim of deception from higher authorities before she learns about the true nature of the overarching alien threat in Skyward. Considering all these fascinating parallels Skyward shares with Top Gun and Ender's Game, it is hard not to see how its upcoming TV adaptation could be television's next big sci-fi event.
Skyward’s Source Material Makes It An Ambitious & Exciting TV Project
The Production Studio behind Netflix's One Piece, Tomorrow Studios, has acquired the rights to Brandon Sanderson's Skyward for the upcoming TV adaptation. Given how the studio was able to deliver a worthy take on the highly fantastical shōnen anime with ease, it is hard not to believe that it will succeed with its adaptation of the Sanderson book series.
Sanderson's Skyward books are packed with gripping dog fights and aerial combats. Owing to this, the upcoming adaptation will require a massive budget to capture everything from the source material's high-octane aerial maneuvers to its portrayal of a strange alien species. If this is executed well, the show could easily prompt some positive comparisons to movies like Top Gun.
Even the character beats in the original book series are solid. They are further elevated by well-timed twists and turns that make the original YA fiction series even more gripping. Given how Brandon Sanderson is serving as an executive producer and is co-writing the pilot script himself, the upcoming show will likely stay true to the original books' compelling story beats.
If all goes well for the upcoming Brandon Sanderson series, it could avoid repeating the Ender's Game movie's mistakes and etch its own legacy like the Top Gun movies.
English (US) ·