When you think the name Paul Haggis you certainly don’t think “children’s literature”. Well that was before, and this is now, and now the powers that be at United Artists has paid seven figures to option the film rights to the children’s fantasy series “Ranger’s Apprentice”, with intentions of handing it over to Paul Haggis (”Crash”, “In the Valley of Elah”) to write and direct.

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The fantasy series by Australian author John Flanagan follows the adventures of an orphan named Will who becomes an apprentice ranger and fights to keep the mythical kingdom of Araluen safe from invaders, traitors and other dangers with the help of his master Halt. The first book, “The Ruins of Gorlan”, was released in Australia in November 2004 and seven months later in the United States. Seven books have been released to date.

Although his more recent outputs have been pretty heavy, heady stuff like the aforementioned “Crash” and “In the Valley of Elah”, Paul Haggis has actually done some light, mindless mush fluff in the past, including a long stint on the Due South series and, yes, Walker, Texas Ranger with Chuck Norris.