Popular anime series ''Sword Art Online'' is expected to release the live action series in 2017. Laeta Kalogridis is selected as the scriptwriter of the project.
According to Variety, the first ever live action television series for the SAO franchise might bring more profitability to the company. Skydance Media has acquired the television rights and Laeta Kalogridis, the Greek American screenwriter is penning the pilot series.
"We look forward to working alongside Laeta, Reki Kawahara, and the teams at KADOKAWA and Aniplex to build out a deeply immersive new universe of SAO in an authentic way that honors its well-established fan base around the globe'' David Ellison, the CEO of Skydance Media stated.
The storyline of the live action series will be based on the life of the beta-tester Kazuto ''Kirito'' Kirigaya. Since fans are familiar with this character in Season 1 and 2, the live action series will be easy for them to follow. The plight of the 1000 beta-testers who are trapped in the virtual reality gaming system known as the "NerveGear" will be revealed in this live action series.
In Season 1, the fans got to see that Kirito saved the ''Moonlit Black Cats guild'' and their leader Keita. Keita had committed suicide in episode three, "The Red-Nosed Reindeer". He was frustrated that he could not save his guild members including Sachi whom Kirito had promised to save.
It is not yet clear whether the live-action series will bring all the old characters back to life, or will move in the direction of a new storyline altogether. Many online forums are ripe with the demand that they would love to see the old characters back and free Kirito from the guilt of not being able to save his team members. Even though Sachi had left a pre-recorded message for Kirito, where she had mentioned that she does not want Kirito to blame himself for her death and move on in life, the death of Sachi had left a strong impact on Kirito.
Kalogridis is currently busy with writing the script for "Altered Carbon" for Netflix and will also be involved in the production works of the same. Her credits include the movies ''Alexander' (an epic historical drama film released in 2004), ''Night Watch'' (a Russian urban fantasy supernatural thriller film released in 2004), ''Pathfinder: The Legend of the Ghost Warrior'' (an American epic action film released in 2007), ''Shutter Island'' (an American psychological thriller film released in 2010) and ''Terminator Genisys'' (an American science fiction film released in 2015).
She was the executive producer of TV series like ''Birds of Prey'' (a superhero based American TV series aired in 2002) and ''Bionic Woman'' (an American science fiction television drama which was aired in 2007). Both the series did not do very well commercially and the first one was canceled after the first thirteen episodes were aired on Warner Bros. Television. The second one was halted due to the strike of the ''Writers Guild of America'' and later was canceled by NBC due to low ratings.
She got the first taste of success as an executive producer for the movie ''Avatar'' which was released in 2009. This movie directed by James Cameron was premiered in December 2009 and the worldwide box office collections were $2.788 billion.
In other news, recently ''2016 Super Thank You Fair'' which was organized by publisher Dengeki treated the fans with a three months long ''Dengeki Heroine Celebration.'' Four characters were released during this fair and this brings in the promise of new female characters in the upcoming season of ''Sword Art Online.''
According to Crunchyroll, these new characters were liked by the readers of Kawahara's original ''Sword Art Online'' light novel series. The spin-off entitled as ''Sword Art Online Alternative Gun Gale Online'' is written by Keiichi Sigsawa under the supervision of Kawahara.
Watch this video which talks about the release of Season 3 of ''Sword Art Online.''