Brandon Sanderson just revealed exactly why he trusted the creators of Netflix’s live-action One Piece with his YA sci-fi franchise. After holding onto the television rights for years, the author officially handed Tomorrow Studios the keys to his Cytoverse.
The reason came down to execution. In a recent YouTube update, Sanderson admitted he first met with the studio four or five years ago. He held off on formalizing an agreement until he saw their highly successful pirate adaptation hit streaming in 2023.
“This was the first time I’m like, ‘All right, you really can make things that are good,'” Sanderson told fans.
The new series will adapt the story of Spensa, a teenage pilot fighting the alien Krell on a harsh underground colony planet. While his sprawling Cosmere universe landed a major deal with Apple TV in January 2026, the Skyward project does not currently have a streaming service attached.
Tomorrow Studios executives Marty Adelstein and Becky Clements are stepping in as executive producers for the project. To run the show, they pulled in Marvel television veterans Jed Whedon and Maurissa “Mo” Tancharoen, best known for guiding Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. from 2013 to 2020.
Sanderson is retaining strict creative control this time around. He is actively co-writing the pilot episode alongside Whedon and Tancharoen.
But he also addressed the immediate fear from his publishing fanbase: that Hollywood would delay his novels. Sanderson promised he is “getting back to the books very soon.” He confirmed he will start revisions on Ghostbloods, the next era of his Mistborn series, in July 2026.