10 Actors Who Would Be Perfect

Brandon Sanderson is a hugely successful fantasy author who’s sold tens of millions of books over the course of his long career. Although there have been attempts to bring his work to the screen before, it’s never happened…but that looks like it’s finally going to change. Apple TV — which has proven its genre bona fides by producing TV shows like Foundation, Pluribus, Silo, Severance, and more — has struck a deal with Sanderson to adapt his books, with Sanderson himself maintaining a large amount of creative control.

Sanderson has written dozens of books, most of them taking place in a connected universe called the Cosmere. Adapting them could change the game for fantasy in Hollywood. What’s more, Sanderson and Apple TV already have an idea of what they want to do first. The Stormlight Archive, Sanderson’s biggest series, will be turned into a TV show. Meanwhile, his Mistborn books will be turned into movies.

Sanderson has written two sets of Mistborn books, each set in a different era on the world of Scadrial. We don’t yet know all of the details, but it’s reasonable to assume that Apple will start by adapting Sanderson’s original Mistborn trilogy, when Scadrial vaguely resembles Renaissance-era Europe and is governed by a seemingly immortal god-king known as the Lord Ruler. In the first Mistborn book, The Final Empire, our plucky band of heroes resolves to bring him down.

Who should play the main characters? It’ll likely be a while before we hear about casting, but we have ideas right now.

Dafne Keen as Vin

Brandon Sanderson is famous for his magic systems. For Mistborn, he invented something called Allomancy. In the world of Scadrial, certain people can ingest and “burn” metals that then give them powers, like the ability to enhance their strength or to inflame people’s emotions. A very small number of people are Mistborn, meaning they have access to the full range of Allomantic abilities. Vin, our lead character, is one such person.

But she doesn’t know she’s Mistborn when the story starts. Vin ekes out a living as part of a thieving crew. She’s withdrawn and mistrusting, but over the course of the story, she becomes a capable leader and warrior.

So whoever plays Vin will have to take her on a long arc. Dafne Keen, who, at 21 years old, is close to Vin’s actual age, could do it. In Logan, she played Laura, who has a rawness that recalls the early stages of Vin’s journey. In His Dark Materials, Keen took the character of Lyra and developed her from an impetuous girl into a responsible young woman, paralleling Vin’s arc. She even has experience with huge tentpole productions thanks to her role in Star Wars: The Acolyte, and a Mistborn movie will certainly be a huge tentpole production.

James McAvoy as Kelsier

Photograph by Peter Baldwin / HBO

Kelsier is the main driving force behind the first Mistborn book; he’s the one who puts together a crew to take down the Lord Ruler. A Mistborn himself, Kelsier is driven by his tragic past and a deep conviction to change the world by toppling its leader. He goes after his goal so fiercely that it almost makes him frightening.

James McAvoy has a ton of impressive credits, but the one that most prepares him to play Kelsier is his role as Lord Asriel in the HBO show His Dark Materials. Like Kelsier, Asriel’s convictions are so strong that they blot out almost everything else in his life. Also, that means that McAvoy has already worked with Keen, so they can lean on their pre-established chemistry.

Mahershala Ali as Sazed

Lionsgate

A scholar, Sazed’s job on Kelsier’s crew is to gather information that can be used against the Lord Ruler. Gentle and kind, he serves as a mentor for Vin. He’s part of an oppressed people known as the Terris. He’s one of the more layered characters in the story, so we’ll want an Academy Award winner to play him.

Mahershala Ali would do a spectacular job as Sazed. Anyone who’s seen his work in movies like Moonlight knows that he can have a very calming, serene presence. But Ali can also bring an edge to his performances, like when he played the villain Cottonmouth in the Marvel Netflix show Luke Cage. That could be useful for the later stages of Sazed’s journey, when he suffers a crisis of faith.

Ali is a huge get for any production, and if Marvel isn’t willing to get that Blade movie he’s supposed to star in off the ground, he might as well take his talents elsewhere.

Louis Partridge as Elend

Netflix

Elend is the son of a powerful noble in the Lord Ruler’s final Empire. He’s idealistic, bookish, and ill at ease in many of the high-end social functions he’s expected to attend. He ends up being Vin’s love interest and plays a hugely important role in the story down the line.

Louis Partridge is a young English actor who had his breakout role as Viscount Tewkesbury in the Enola Holmes movies on Netflix. Tewkesbury is a young noble who wants to be free to pursue his own interests rather than be tied down by the restrictive life of a traditional aristocrat. He’s sensitive, kind, and progressive, which often puts him at odds with other people in his class.

Partridge was winning in the part, and it’s hard to think of another role that could have better prepared him to play Elend Venture. Plus, at 22, he’s almost exactly the same age as Dafne Keen, so their romance would be believable.

Matt Berry as Breeze

FX

Breeze is a noble-born member of Kelsier’s crew with the ability to manipulate people’s emotions, either through Allomancy or with his silver tongue. He can be witty and cavalier, but has a good heart and genuinely believes in the mission.

Matt Berry played the smooth-talking vampire Laszlo Cravensworth in What We Do In The Shadows, and he could definitely bring a bit of Laszlo’s pomp and charm to the role of Breeze. Also, Berry has a way of pronouncing words in unpredictable, entertaining ways. He could help elevate some of Brandon Sanderson’s dialogue, which tends to be on the bland side.

Breeze sometimes serves as comic relief, which Berry could surely handle with aplomb. But it would also be fun to see him stretch himself for some of the character’s more dramatic moments.

Henry Cavill as Hammond

Warner Bros. Pictures

Hammond — Ham to his friends — is an Allomancer with the ability to augment his strength and speed. He’s the muscle of Kelsier’s group, so we’re looking for someone who can play an action hero. With his roles as Geralt of Rivia in The Witcher and as Superman, Henry Cavill definitely fits the bill. He may be fan-cast in every fantasy project ever, but the guy is a fantasy fan, and a Brandon Sanderson fan, so why not?

But there’s more to Ham than just being the town bruiser. He’s also a bit of a philosophy nerd prone to pontificating at length to whoever will listen, usually Breeze. Although he tends to play tough guy roles on the screen, Cavill is known as a bit of a nerd himself, what with him building PCs and bending all his energy to get a Warhammer 40k TV show off the ground. Playing Ham could combine those two sides of his persona.

Andy Serkis as Dockson

Warner Bros.

Dockson, aka Dox, is Kelsier’s oldest friend and second in command. While he wants to end the Lord Ruler’s reign as badly as Kelsier, Dox goes about it with a cooler head, serving as the logistical mastermind for the group. He’s the only one of them who isn’t an Allomancer.

Onscreen, Andy Serkis is most famous for playing characters brought to life with CGI, like Gollum from The Lord of the Rings movies or Caesar from the Planet of the Apes films. But when he’s not wearing a head-to-toe green bodysuit, he tends to play sturdy, level-headed supporting characters like Alfred in The Batman or Kino Loy in Star Wars: Andor. In the flesh, Serkis has a straightforward ordinariness about him that would suit Dockson well.

Brendan Gleeson as Clubs

Searchlight Pictures

Clubs is a carpenter who owns the shop that Kelsier uses as his hideout. He’s an eager participant in the conspiracy, using his Allomantic powers to shield the group from the Lord Ruler’s terrifying Inquisitors. But he’s also grumpy and pessimistic, often reminding Kelsier and the others of how insane their plan is.

Brendan Gleeson knows how to play a great grump; just look at his Oscar-nominated performance as the irascible Colm Doherty in The Banshees of Inisherin if you need proof. Another touchstone would be Gleeson’s role as Mad-Eye Moody in the Harry Potter films. Clubs is like Colm or Mad-Eye but a bit less cruel and crazy.

Owen Cooper as…Lestibournes/Spook

Netflix

Spook is Clubs’ nephew. At the start of the trilogy, he’s a timid young street urchin who uses his Allomantic powers to serve as a lookout. As the series goes on, he steps into a leadership role and becomes crucial to bringing peace and order to Scadrial. Along the way, he grapples with feelings of uselessness, guilt, and even madness, but comes out the other end an inspirational figure.

Owen Cooper burst onto the scene in Adolescence, where he played the troubled Jamie Miller. Cooper was fantastic at hinting at Jamie’s inner turmoil, something he would have to do again as the taciturn Spook. Later, Cooper would get to stretch his acting muscles as Spook’s role expanded.

And at just 16 years old, Cooper is the right age to play Spook, who is the youngest member of Kelsier’s group. It can be hard to find young actors with the charisma and discipline to carry off a role like this, but we already have proof that Cooper is capable.

Lee Pace as The Lord Ruler

Apple TV+

Lee Pace is an obvious choice for this role, since between King Thranduil in The Hobbit movies and Brother Day on Foundation he’s basically made a specialty of playing immortal rulers. But he keeps getting asked to do it because he’s good at it. With his furrowed brow and regal bearing, Lee Pace just looks like someone who’s supposed to be ordering around a footman in a castle.

As the Lord Ruler, Pace would be a bit more Brother Day than Thranduil; the Lord Ruler is widely considered a tyrant, hence why Kelsier has it out for him. Pace could bring the sense of wisdom, power, and coiled danger that the role requires.

This isn’t the first time someone has made a list of casting suggestions for a Mistborn movie, but now that we actually know an adaptation is going forward, the stakes are raised. There are other roles to be cast, but this list should get Apple off to a solid start. We will expect a credit somewhere towards the bottom, please and thank you.

Producers

Brandon Sanderson

Franchise(s)

Mistborn