David Hayter takes flight with the Dragonriders of Pern

Last Updated on August 5, 2021

Videogame players know David Hayter as the voice of Solid Snake in the METAL GEAR series, movie fans know him as the credited screenwriter of Bryan Singer’s first X-MEN, and supercheese lovers know him as the star of the GUYVER sequel DARK HERO.

As writer/producer, Hayter has been wrestling with various movie projects over the past decade, but probably nothing as potentially epic as his latest: an adaptation of the bestselling book series THE DRAGONRIDERS OF PERN.

Hayter will sift through the dense mythology of Anne McCaffrey’s long-running sci-fi/fantasy books in search of a script for a live-action feature (and probable movie franchise). The stories are set on the colonized world of Pern and revolve around a society that telepathically bonds with dragons to combat an organism called Thread. Although I’m sure it’s infinitely more complex than that, considering there are more than 20 novels.

Maybe Hayter will have better luck with such a high-profile and beloved property, since most of his previously announced projects have never materialized — he’s worked on adaptations of the LOST PLANET videogame, the DEADWORLD comic, a solo flick based on Marvel’s sexy spy BLACK WIDOW (pre-IRON MAN 2), an original teen lycanthrope movie called WOLVES, and a TV series based on the movie PUSH. At least he got some credit for adapting WATCHMEN…