According to series author Patrick Rothfuss, popular fantasy series The Kingkiller Chronicle may not just be a standalone series, but actually a prequel to the real story Rothfuss is telling.

Loading

Loading

In a recent panel at Emerald City Comic-Con, Tor reports Rothfuss opened up about The Doors of Stone, the upcoming third book in his fantasy trilogy, The Kingkiller Chronicle. When asked if Rothfuss was "a [Dungeon Master] taking [readers] on a journey where the bard is the hero of the story" Rothfuss responded, "It's way worse than that. I am an author who has tricked you into reading a trilogy that is a million-word prologue."Previously, Rothfuss alluded to the idea that while Book 3 would signal the close of this arc of the story, it wouldn't be the final book set in his fantastic world. His statement on the panel adds credence to the theory Kvothe's tale is just getting started.Set in the world of Temerant, The Kingkiller Chronicle follows Kvothe, a legendary bard who has retired to the quiet life of an innkeeper after somehow, going by the name Kote. The trilogy is Kote's retelling of his life's story to a Chronicler over the course of three days.As of late January, Sam Raimi was in negotiations with Lionsgate to helm the film adaptation of the first book in The Kingkiller Chronicle, The Name of the Wind. A TV show is also in the works, set generations before the events of The Name of the Wind, with Hamilton creator Lin-Manuel Miranda set to executive produce the show for Showtime . There had been some question from fans about how Rothfuss's story would be split between both mediums, so knowing that this story might be two book series instead of one helps explain how there would be enough material for a complementary movie and a TV show.Sony is planning something similar with its ambitious multimedia adaptation of Stephen King's The Dark Tower. The studio first released a movie adaptation of The Dark Tower that focused on the modern day of that series, but it's also developing a Dark Tower TV series on Amazon that will focus on the fourth book in the series , Wizard and Glass, which is largely a prequel to the rest of the series. The series will feature AMC's The Walking Dead alum Glen Mazzara as showrunner An extremely popular modern fantasy series, The Kingkiller Chronicles has the same sort of passionate fanbase as George R.R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire novels (a.k.a. the basis of HBO's Game of Thrones). Like with Martin's still-unfinished series, fans have been waiting for the third and presumed final book in Rothfuss's story for years. The second book in the trilogy, The Wise Man's Fear, came out in 2011; coincidentally, that was the same year Martin released his most recent Game of Thrones book, A Dance With Dragons. If Rothfuss's words weren't misconstrued, it sounds like they might be waiting even longer than the anticipated release of The Doors of Stone to hear the end of Kvothe's story.

Brian Barnett is a freelance writer for IGN. You can follow and chat with him on Twitter @Ribnax (he's super friendly)!