Adam Huddleston writes: Will Terry Brooks write another series to fill in the 1000 year gap between Legends of Shannara and First King of Shannara? Thanks!
Shawn Speakman answers: I will first say that Terry has always been open about what his future writing plans are. He has also always reserved the right to change his mind. That is as true today as it has been the last twenty years.
As of right now, Terry has no plans to write another Shannara novel. He has finished what he hoped to accomplish with his signature series. Couple that with his desire to write three or four fantasy novels unrelated to anything he’s written before — like Child of Light, which published last year to great reviews — and he is going to be fairly busy for the next several years.
But Adam Huddleston makes a good point. There is a large gap between Measure of the Magic and First King of Shannara. Besides possibly a story set during the time of Faerie — which readers always ask about too — it is the one spot in the series that really does need a novel or trilogy to create a uniform series. Terry is aware of that fact as well. We’ve even talked about what the series would look like, what it would be about, the direction he’d take, etc. But again, he has no wish to write Shannara again. That could change at any moment though. He’s done it before. One day, he has no wish to write a particular book; the next day, he starts writing that book’s first chapter. It could happen for Shannara. I also can’t discount the idea that Terry could allow someone else to write Shannara. That’s also a discussion we’ve had in the past. What would that look like? We didn’t go into the details very far and a lot of stars would have to align for anyone else to take on that kind of work. Again, never say never.
For all intents and purposes though, Shannara is wrapped and finished. Best to look at it that way. And if that changes for Terry at some point in the future, Shannara readers will be the first to know!
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Shawn, thank you for sharing this nugget. I appreciate and respect Terry and you.
Chris
Hey, we try to earn that respect every day.
Well…much like Sanderson picked up for Jordan, I know a really excellent writer who is well versed in Shannara who could step in and bridge the gap…right, Shawn?