NBC is looking to adapt a new series from author Fonada Lee’s Jade City for their new Peacock streaming service, Deadline reports. Already attached to the project is Dave Kastein (Treadstone, Quantico) as both writer and executive producer, Breck Eisner (The Expanse, The Crazies) as director and executive producer, and Dean Georgaris (The Meg, The Manchurian Candidate) who will also serve as a executive producer.
Jade City is the first book in the best selling fantasy trilogy The Green Bone Saga, which went on to win the 2018 World Fantasy Award for Best Novel, and was also a finalist for the Nebula and Locus Awards – two of the most prestigious science fiction and fantasy awards next to the Hugo Award. The second book, Jade War, was published last year in 2019, while the upcoming third book, Jade Legacy, is expected to be released sometime in the fall of 2021. In a personal Reddit forum, Lee described her series as “Godfather with magic and kung-fu,” drawing heavily from influences like Asian crime dramas and classic kung fu movies.
Deadline provided this synopsis for the series:
“Jade City is an epic saga of magic and martial arts where two rival clans will fight to the bitter end for love, honor and power. Set in an Asian-inspired fantasy metropolis reminiscent of 70s Hong Kong, jade holds mystical powers and our two warring families will fight to the end over its control.”
Kalstein will both write and executive produce on the television series. His most recent work was on USA’s Treadstone and ABC’s Quantico, in which he served as a co-executive producer. Just last year, Kalstein sold the rights to his CIA drama Quantum Spy to NBC.
Both Eisner and Georgaris will also act as executive producers on the show. Eisner, whose most recent directing credits include The Crazies and The Expanse, is expected to direct for the series. Georgaris is a writer and producer who recently created Bluff City Law for NBC.
Lee is also involved on the project and will function as a consulting producer. Universal TV, a sub-division of NBCUniversal International Networks, will serve as the production studio for the series.
