Warner Bros. has optioned all 22 novels in late American-Irish author Anne McCaffrey's Dragonriders of Pern series. With The Hobbit trilogy ending this year, this sprawling fantasy series could be a viable franchise replacement.

The novels, which were first published in 1968, center on a group of warriors and their telepathic dragons who try to save their home planet of Pern from a deadly airborne threat, a rain of spores that hails from the orbit of the Red Star. The studio hasn't attached a screenwriter to adapt the material at this time.

The adaptation was previously in development at indie studios Copperhead Entertainment, Dark Hero Studios and Angry Films, who brought on David Hayter to write the screenplay adaptation back in April 2011, but we haven't heard anything else regarding the project until now, when Warner Bros. picked up the rights.

It isn't clear how the studio plans on approaching this massive collection of work, but it's clear there is definitely enough source material to spawn Warner Bros.' next big-budget franchise.