Comic-Con: 'Wizard's First Rule' (and 'Spider-Man 4')

Wizard's First Rule? Change the title of your new syndicated TV fantasy drama if you're worried audiences will think it's about, you know, wizards. In a panel hosted by EW's own Lynette Rice, exec-producers Sam Raimi and Robert Tapert (Hercules and Xena) announced that their 22-episode adaptation based on Terry Goodkind's 12-volume The Sword of Truth series will no longer be titled Wizard's First Rule (the first book in the series); instead, it shall now and forever be known as Legend of the Seeker. The reason, explained Goodkind at the LotS Comic-Con panel with Raimi, Tapert and Ned Nalle, is that "It's not a show about wizards....It's about heroes." Which is why they didn't use the Swords title either. Confused yet?

Attendees already knew that Craig Horner would be playing the protagonist, Richard Rahl. Raimi went on to announce the casting of three more characters: Bruce Spence (The Road Warrior) will play Zedd (Richard's grandfather), Jay Laga'aia (Star Wars — Eps. II and III) will play Chase, and Craig Parker (pictured; The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring) will play the villain Darken Rahl. A rapt audience took in a quick clip from the show — lots of vistas from its New Zealand set, along with quick bits of arrows flying and swords clashing — which was impressive, considering the show's only been in production for four days. (It premieres on Nov. 1 and will air on Saturdays in syndication, mostly on Tribune stations carrying the CW.)

A lot of time was spent reassuring fans of the books that, although they are slicing up the first installment to make more-or-less self-contained episodes, the heart of the characters will not be touched. Goodkind himself explained that he wanted anyone to be able to come into the show halfway through and not feel like they were woefully behind, and the crowd appeared to have been satisfied.

Two other big snippits of news grew out of the panel: Raimi acknowledged that the script for Spider-Man 4 is current being written, though he hasn't read it; and Goodkind has signed a deal for a three-book -series set in the contemporary world. He even teased the audience with the first sentence of the second book: "For the past three weeks, John Allen Bishop had been keeping the devil chained in his basement." Spooky!