Brian K. Vaughan Talks The Possibility, However Remote, Of A Saga Movie
This article is more than 2 years old
Fans of science fiction and/or comics are more than likely well aware of Saga, and if you’re not, you should be. The Eisner Award-winning Image Comics series by Brian K. Vaughan and Fiona Staples is one of the best continuing titles going right now—not to mention one of the few, along with Robert Kirkman’s The Walking Dead, that I manage to keep up with on the regular. Because San Diego Comic-Con apparently does still allow comic books through its doors, the two creators were there to discuss their series, and even discussed the possibility of a Saga movie in the future.
Vaughan has spent a fair amount of time recently working in television and film, writing and producing for the likes of Lost and Under the Dome, which he recently left. Saga marked a more earnest return to the form where he launched his career—he’s responsible for the likes of Y: The Last Man, Ex-Machina, and Runaways—and had pushed off any talk of an adaptation of the comic.
During the panel he said, “I had been working in the film…and the more I worked in it, the more I realized comics are vastly superior. A lot of comics I read felt like so many spec screenplays. I told Fiona, ‘Look, if they ever make us an offer we can’t refuse, I wouldn’t say no.’ If Paul Thomas Anderson wanted to make a movie? Aight.”
Saga, which recently released issue number 21, showcases a world full of robots and magic, imagining worlds involved in long, nearly endless conflict. Into this universe come Alana and Marko. Star-crossed lovers in every sense. They are from two different planets that have been engaging in brutal, bloody battles for generations. When they fall in love and have a child, it kicks off a chaotic manhunt across the galaxy where both sides, and more, have a vested interest in hunting down the young couple.
It doesn’t sound like there are any plans to make a movie right now, or even all that much interest, unless the right parties are involved. On the other hand, Vaughan doesn’t sound as opposed to the idea as he once did. Either way, this would be one hell of an undertaking. There are all manner of strange worlds creatures that would need to be brought to life, but the idea of seeing Lying Cat and Prince Robot IV—a member of a royal family with the body of a man and a TV for a head—rendered on screen is pretty cool.
If the world of Saga seems very complete and well thought out, that’s because it’s been kicking around in Vaughan’s head for quite some time. He says, “I’ve been thinking about this universe since I was a kid…When I was bored in math class, I would escape to this universe. I know too many details — a disturbing amount. A lot of it has changed because, in my head, all the people on Wreath and all the people on Landfall looked the same, because I have no imagination. Fiona transformed it into something completely different.”
