Disney+’s long-gestating Eragon series adaptation is finally showing real forward momentum. The streamer has brought on Todd Harthan and Todd Helbing as co-showrunners, with Christopher Paolini also set to write and executive produce the live-action series based on The Inheritance Cycle. Marc Webb is joining the project as an executive producer, alongside Bert Salke and Rachel Moore. 20th Television is the studio behind the series.
The update matters because it moves the project past the “in development” haze and into something that looks more like an actual TV build: a defined creative leadership team, clear writing responsibilities, and the kind of staffing that typically comes before casting and production planning.
What the series is aiming to be
The official setup is classic fantasy wish fulfillment, the kind that can work really well on TV if it gets the time and scale it needs. The story follows an ordinary teenager chosen to become the first Dragon Rider in over a century, forcing him to bond with his dragon, learn ancient magic, and challenge the tyrannical king who wiped out the Riders.
That pitch also helps clarify expectations: Disney+ is positioning Eragon as a big, accessible fantasy series, not a niche deep cut, and it is hard not to read this as part of a broader push to turn popular book worlds into long-running streaming brands.
Why Harthan and Helbing are interesting choices
Harthan comes from TV that lives or dies on character rhythm and weekly momentum, currently running High Potential. Helbing’s background leans more into long-form, effects-heavy storytelling, best known for Superman & Lois.
Put those together and you can see the shape Disney+ might be chasing: character-forward episodes with a bigger serialized spine, plus enough spectacle to make dragons feel like more than a budget line item.
The shadow of the 2006 movie
Any new Eragon adaptation comes with baggage, mostly because Eragon left a lot of book fans feeling burned. A series has always felt like the better format for this world, since it has room for the slower character work, the politics, the travel, and the lore that a single movie struggled to balance.
Disney+ also has a recent example of how to do “second chance” book adaptations the right way with Percy Jackson and the Olympians, which is the comparison a lot of fans are already making.
What we still do not know
There’s no casting news, no release window,
and no episode count yet. What this update does tell you is that the project is being staffed seriously, and once scripts start firming up, the next big tells will be casting, director hires, and whether Disney+ commits to a full season order.
Sources: The Wrap
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