Fans of Game of Thrones have been starving for a replacement since the HBO series concluded. But while many have tried, no contender has delivered a fantasy world as exciting, gripping, and complex. To make things worse, one of the most promising challengers to the throne of fantasy adventure seems to have silently died, in a major loss for the genre.
Tim Miller Confirms His ‘Best Served Cold’ Fantasy is No Longer Happening
Deadpool Director & Star Rebecca Ferguson Were Perfect Fit for The Series
It was all the way back in 2023 that fans first heard Best Served Cold would be receiving a movie adaptation, with director Tim Miller (Deadpool) attached to direct for Skydance. A live-action translation of the Joe Abercrombie novel, actress Rebecca Ferguson (Dune, Mission: Impossible) would take the leading role in this revenge story of a sword-wielding mercenary in a reimagined, pre-Industrial Europe. And with Miller teasing the film as ‘Kill Bill meets Game of Thrones,’ hopes were high.
But the WGA strike would soon stall development, even before Skydance would merge with film and streaming giant Paramount, putting all projects into question. But without an official cancelation, fans could still believe. Unfortunately, when speaking with Corridor Digital as part of their VFX Artists React series (exclusive to subscribers), Miller offers an intensely disappointing description of his Best Served Cold development:
“I’m egotistical enough to want to do the big things. I don’t like people calling me the director, I like the power of crafting this big project. And the focus that comes with that. But I’ve had a lot of movies almost go recently, and then for one reason or another doesn’t go.
“Best Served Cold, the Joe Abercombie book. That was at Skydance with Rebecca Ferguson, who was perfect for the character. And… it just didn’t happen.”
Even months later without any contrary updates, Miller’s personal interest hasn’t waned. Noting the presence of actor Steven Pacey in Love, Death & Robots, and citing his “mad crush” thanks to Pacey’s readings of Abercombie’s The First Law trilogy in audiobook format, Miller still called them “the books I’m hopefully, one day, adapting.” But the past-tense tone of Miller’s reference to his first such adaptation is impossssilbe to ignore.
Best Served Cold Could’ve Launched The Entire ‘First Law’ Fantasy Universe
The Fictional World is One of Author Joe Abercrombie’s Greatest Creations
Making this news even more disappointing is the fact that Best Served Cold was not just a single action-packed story. but the start of a self-contained trilogy, set within the world of The First Law Trilogy which launched Abercrombie’s acclaimed and beloved universe of interconnected narratives. While it fits less cleanly into the “fantasy” genre than Game of Thrones, the setting allows for a much broader blend of fading magic, demons, politics, and brutal action, which has gained a massive following since Abercrombie’s The Blade Itself launched the setting in 2006.
Ferguson had been fated to play Monza Murcatto, a mercenary leader skilled and powerful enough for a villainous Grand Duke to execute both her and her brother, to ensure his own power base was unchallenged. Yet when Monza survives the attempt, she begins to scheme and slaughter her way back up, and take a revenge that could destabilize entire city-states. If a blend of The Witcher‘s lore with John Wick level action sounds like a challenger to Game of Thrones‘ status, then you will understand why fans have considered an adaptation inevitable. Even so, Miller and Ferguson was a top-tier creative team.
With the merger uniting Skydance Media and Paramount, some had speculated that The First Law universe could be the perfect new flagship franchise for the studio. Launching Best Served Cold with massive attention either, theatrically or via Paramount+, any number of prequels, sequels, or spin-off films and TV series could be drawn from the rest of Abercrombie’s gritty, brilliant world. But with Tim Miller a self-proclaimed fan of Abercrombie’s work and world, his update removes most (if not all) creative force behind such a plan. Making this a massive missed opportunity for the studio, if that is truly the case.
You can never say ‘never’ in Hollywood, and it’s safe to consider Miller a frontrunner for any Abercrombie fantasy adaptation that may develop (aside from James Cameron’s development of The Devils, set in another fictional world from The First Law). But for now, fans might be safest to take Miller’s words to heart, and consider Best Served Cold as the best fantasy universe that simply “didn’t happen.”