Altered Carbon - Could Netflix do Dresden?

[Lost Merlin]

you know how about we build it as crime show drama  like flash were  papa raith is still the big bad but we add lets say 5 to 10 episodes of harrys regular investigation work like few cases from police and may be job from lara or white council as  to fill the season

I think that is what they Tried with the SyFy show.  They tried to make it more of a cop show.  I think the draw of DF is the interactions with the larger communities/storylines that lie outside of everyday Chicago.

[Kindler]

Ah, kk.  Jim said he viewed the Changes/GS/CD as more a Death, Afterlife and Rebirth set.

Well, sure, but I'd argue with Jim about that. Changes includes Harry's death as the last thing that happens, but it's not really about his death; Ghost Story is a better representation of Death, because the entire story has his condition as a driving force behind it. Changes is more of a book about the Tarot interpretation of the Death card, if anything: "Death" in the Tarot deck represents... change. The underlying theme is the destruction of Harry's old life, and we're introduced to seismic shifts in the ongoing arc: Harry has a daughter, Susan's arc ends, the Red Court is killed to the last man, the Wardens are attacked by members of the Council and are likely pissed, Gregor Christos shows his colors, Molly gets her mind and emotions wrecked, I'd argue that Butters's brush with death is one of the things that drives his character development moving forward, Harry accepts the Winter Knight gig, and has a relationship upgrade with Murphy. His death at the end is like a postscript. "And on top of everything else, I freaking DIED."

The actual death of Harry isn't dealt with in any kind of fashion until Ghost Story, which I think is a good representation of both the Death AND Afterlife stages. Cold Days kind of doubles as an afterlife story to me, too--at least the first chunk of it. I don't see Harry's Rebirth stage being complete until the end of Skin Game; that's when Harry returns for real and deals with a lot of the stuff that had been going on in his absence, including his time on Demonreach. Cold Days is more like... labor pains.

But that's just how I see the arcs in the latter portion of the series, and what do I know?

[Sully]

Going back to Alera, I think you could do two books a season.  First is Tavi as an adolescent, reacting to everything.  Second is Tavi  finding his place in the world, seeing how things fit together. Third is Tavi as an adult, where he plans and shapes the world, instead of reacting.

[Quantus]

Going back to Alera, I think you could do two books a season.  First is Tavi as an adolescent, reacting to everything.  Second is Tavi  finding his place in the world, seeing how things fit together. Third is Tavi as an adult, where he plans and shapes the world, instead of reacting.

That would make sense, though for that Id be hoping for longer Seasons that the 8-12 that seem popular these days. Tavi's story could be told at two books per season, but I really dont think you could fit the Tavi&Co arcs plus the Amara & Bernard and Isana/Araris without tragic levels of trimming.  But doing the 20-24 episode model with mid-season breaks and half-season mini-arcs the way a lot of established franchise shows are doing, that might fit it nicely. 

And as you say it would work well in terms of the Casting Challenges: you cast Tavi young and scrawny for Season 1 where he's either an apprentice sheppard or the runt student getting picked on, Season 2 he gets recast for his adolescent Coming of Age arcs where he joins the military, and Season three you use the Actor previously cast as Septimus to be the full-grown Princepts Octavian for the two continents worth of Vord battles. 

[Sully]

Re-casting is not necessarily a death sentence-netflix's series on Queen Elizabeth is great!

[Quantus]

Re-casting is not necessarily a death sentence-netflix's series on Queen Elizabeth is great!

Id agrue it works great when used to actually serve the story with Aging, etc.  It sucks when it's just actor availability, breaks the immersion. 

[Talby16]

Id agrue it works great when used to actually serve the story with Aging, etc.  It sucks when it's just actor availability, breaks the immersion.

Agreed. I am a fan of keeping the same actors whenever possible. Sign relatively unknown talent for the whole series. It would help that a series based on a complete book series would have a known end date.

[Quantus]

Agreed. I am a fan of keeping the same actors whenever possible. Sign relatively unknown talent for the whole series. It would help that a series based on a complete book series would have a known end date.

Indeed, they could actually put the aging on the schedule.   And while I like the idea of using the Septimus Actor for end-story Tavi, I have seen them have good luck with casting a teenage actor early and letting them grow up (and, sadly, too often bulk out with steroids) to accomplish the step-changes they're after.  I could see casting a young actor and just film-magicing him a little smaller in the FoC/AF era, give him a haircut and personal trainer to make him look older for CuF/CaF, then move on up to Septimus-as-Octavian for the finale.  You'd just have to cast a pair that look that much alike.