The plot for the long-awaited film adaptation of Orson Scott Card’s 1985 Sci-Fi Novel Ender’s Game will parallel that of the book, but will take place over a shorter period of time in the character’s lives.

The novel’s plot line will be compressed to span about 1 year of the protagonist’s life in the upcoming feature film says director Gavin Hood in an interview with Entertainment Weekly:

The decision was made very early on to compress the time period into about a year, so that we could have the same actor from beginning to end.

Ender’s Game as it was originally written begins with the main character, Andrew ‘Ender’ Wiggins as a 6-year-old gifted school child who is recruited to attend Battle School. The book then follows Ender’s education through his early promotion to Command School at the age of 10, to his eventual colonization of a previously alien planet several years after his departure from Command School.

Hood states that he made this decision to alter the story’s timeline in consultation with Orson Scott Card, and that the book’s dark ending – and the issues of morality that arise – will remain intact; further saying that he is a fan of the book, and does not wish to change the story. This statement of similar plot in a shortened time begs the question: Will this adaptation be able to successfully fit at least 6 years worth of a character’s storyline into a compressed 1-year time span, and satisfy its cult following and new fans alike? Only time will tell!

Will the movie adaptation of Ender’s Game be able to include all of the elements of the story that its cult following of fans want to see?

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