Tulsa King star Garrett Hedlund thinks his 2006 fantasy movie Eragon, which grossed $250 million, has seen its franchise potential wasted after 19 years without a sequel.

Dragons would later become all the rage thanks to Game of Thrones, but Disney’s Eragon got there first, bringing novelist Christopher Paolini’s telepathic firebreather Saphira to life, with plans to adapt the other books in Paolini’s series.

But Disney’s Eragon franchise plans were sadly derailed when the film met with bad reviews and lukewarm box office returns. 19 years later, those plans could be back on, as Disney+ is reported to be developing a series adaptation of Paolini’s Inheritance Cycle collection.

This should come as good news to Tulsa King star Hedlund, who recently reminisced about his experiences acting in Eragon, telling a panel at FanX’s Atlanta Comic Convention that he was hoping the film would spawn a franchise, and is disappointed that it did not (via Collider):

“It makes you smile when you take other things for granted. So that journey was a wonderful one. It’s a shame we couldn’t continue on with it because it came down to cash.”

What This Means For Eragon

Hedlund Could Return For The Series

Eragon author Paolini re-started talk of a Disney+ series back in February when he took to social media to offer an encouraging update, revealing that he is in the middle of negotiations, with a major contract yet to sign (via X).

Development on the Eragon series was first announced back in 2022, but there has been very little further news on the project. Meanwhile, Dreamworks has seen its own dragon-centric franchise How to Train Your Dragon take off at the box office. 2025’s live-action HTTYD is currently the fifth-highest grossing film of the year, having taken in $589 million worldwide.

Hedlund’s recent nostalgic remarks about his experience on Eragon, coupled with his frustration over not getting to make the other planned movies, could indicate his willingness to take on a role in a new Disney+ series adaptation of Paolini’s books.

Our Take On Hedlund Wanting An Eragon Franchise

Book Fans Hated The Original Movie, But Might Enjoy A Series

Hedlund may have enjoyed his experience working on Eragon, but almost no one liked the movie itself, a fact driven home by the film’s 15% critics’ rating and 46% audience rating on Rotten Tomatoes. Fans of Paolini’s books were particularly hard on Eragon, slamming it for deviating from the source material, for bad CGI, and for unconvincing performances.

But 19 years later, Disney can have an Eragon do-over, via their streaming service. They can properly adapt Paolini’s books this time around, using the series format to really delve into their world-building and characters. Perhaps more importantly, current CGI can be deployed to make dragons that live up to book fans’ imaginings.

Disney may have failed to get the dragon bandwagon rolling back in 2006, but after Game of Thrones and How to Train Your Dragon made mythical flying firebreathers cool, they can make up for 19 years of sleeping on a potential Eragon franchise.

Source: Collider