Red Rising Director Francis Lawrence Says YA Series' Movie Adaptation Is a 'Priority' at Paramount Following Shelved Netflix Show

We got the chance to chat with Francis Lawrence, director of the forthcoming Red Rising movie, who let us in on some exciting updates about the project and its current status at Paramount.

Francis Lawrence might as well be the end-all, be-all of young adult book-to-screen adaptations. Best known for directing almost every single movie in the Hunger Games series, Lawrence recently helmed The Long Walk and is following that up with the next Hunger Games movie, Sunrise on the Reaping, in November.

Given his extensive pedigree with YA literature adaptations, we had to quiz him about the upcoming Red Rising movie, the long-awaited adaptation of author Pierce Brown’s galaxy-spanning sci-fi epic.

According to Lawrence, multiple "regime changes" at Netflix — where the movie was first set to release — set things back, but after eight long years, it finally found a home at Paramount.

"I have been attached to Red Rising for about eight years, and Pierce [Brown] and …