The Stormlight Archive, Apple TV‘s most ambitious fantasy undertaking to date, isn’t ready to start filming yet. But there’s a very good reason for that, and Brandon Sanderson has explained what’s holding things up. The author is already writing for the television adaptation, but there’s still one very important job to fill before it can properly get moving. Speaking exclusively with Collider‘s Maggie Lovitt at FanX Salt Lake, Sanderson confirmed that the series is still searching for a showrunner, and he’s personally involved in the process, actively interviewing candidates for the job, which should please fans.

Sanderson is writing for both Stormlight Archive and Apple‘s upcoming Mistborn movie, the latter of which he’s handling himself, while he expects to work with another writer on Stormlight. Running an entire television production, however, is a different job. “Mistborn movie and Stormlight Archive TV show — I am writing both of them,” said Sanderson. “I will probably have a writing partner for Stormlight, but this one I’m writing the whole thing.” He continued, explaining:

“Stormlight is still hunting a showrunner. So, a showrunner is like — I can write, but I’ve never been on set full-time directing a show. With Wheel of Time, I was just there briefly on and off and things like that. So we really need to get [a] really high-caliber showrunners, [who’s] gonna be the expert that’s gonna be there every day running the show, and so that’s what we’re looking for. I’ve interviewed a bunch.”

Sanderson previously worked as a consulting producer on Prime Video‘s The Wheel of Time, but his role didn’t involve running the production day to day. For Stormlight, he’s looking for somebody with that experience while he stays closely involved with the writing.

Brandon Sanderson Doesn’t Want ‘Stormlight Archive’ to Look Like a Renaissance Fair

However, it needs to actually look like the world Sanderson created. That’s where a big problem can come in, because fantasy can get extremely expensive — just look at Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power and the Game of Thrones universe — and Sanderson thinks audiences can tell when corners have been cut. Costumes, sets, and visual effects all need to work together, or the illusion disappears. He told Collider:

“The idea that you want the fantasy world to feel real — that’s the hardest thing, because if you skimp on some elements of either the effects or the costuming, it’ll feel like you’re at a Renaissance fair rather than a fantasy world. When you read a fantasy, one of the key ideas is that while you’re between those pages, you’re able to believe that this is a real story. This is a real place. This actually could happen, and some really simple things can kick you out in the television show.”

That’s a fairly straightforward reason not to rush things. The Stormlight Archive is a huge series, and Sanderson wants somebody running the show who knows how to handle a production of that size. The Stormlight Archive does not currently have a production start or release date. 

via Collider