<i>Fourth Wing</i>: What We Know So Far About the Television Adaptation

First, Jeff Bezos wanted the hobbits; now, he’s come for the dragons. A massive New York Times bestseller list, Rebecca Yarros’s fantasy sensation, Fourth Wing—in which the main characters ride dragons, and also each other—is getting the Amazon treatment with a buzzy Prime Video television adaptation.

If you aren’t yet all too familiar with the adventures of Violet Sorrengail and her angry-and-ripped boyfriend Xaden, then here’s a quick overview of what will be at stake in the TV show: In Yarros’s universe, there are dragons, and those dragons meet their riders at an elite school known as Basgiath War College. There, Violet—small, underestimated, and with a chronic condition similar to Ehlers-Danlos syndrome—eschews what she thought would be a quiet life as a scribe for a chance to spar alongside other riders and bond with not one but two dragons. She also meets the traitorous (read: hot) Xaden Riorson, a wingleader already bonded to the dragon Sgaeyl, as he helps train Violet for dragonback—and for the war threatening their homeland, Navarre.

But just how closely Bezos and Co. will stick to the beloved (or hated, depending on whom you’re asking) source material remains to be seen. The most pressing question, in yours truly’s opinion: Who will voice my favorite character, Violet’s sassy dragon Tairn? (And yes, the dragons talk! Sort of!)

Yarros likely won’t be giving any answers soon—the author remains tight-lipped on the adaptation. “I’m so new to this industry. I will Tom Holland it,” she joked to ELLE, wary of dropping potential spoilers.

Here’s what we know so far.

Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros

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Prime Video has yet to announce a filming date, nor a release date. But with a potential showrunner currently in talks to helm the project, it seems Amazon is investing resources to ensure the series is made expeditiously. They don’t want to lose out on the hype any more than Yarros does.

Fourth Wing will be a venture shared between Amazon MGM Studios, Kilter Films, Premediated Productions, and Michael B. Jordan’s Outlier Society. Breaking Bad and Anne With an E writer and creator Moira Walley-Beckett was originally picked to serve as Fourth Wing’s showrunner, but she later dropped out. Amazon MGM has yet to announce Walley-Beckett’s replacement, but Deadline reports that Agatha All Along and WandaVision creator Jac Schaeffer is currently in talks to take over the project. Having recently signed a deal with the studio, Schaeffer is apparently “among the top names in consideration for the job.”

We don’t have any idea just yet. But Yarros has made one promise so far: Xaden will be played by a person of color.

When asked about her casting dreams—and her thoughts on fan art depicting Xaden as white, despite Yarros describing him as having “warm tawny skin” in the books—the author told Variety in November 2023, “We’re just going to say he’s POC; we’re just going to leave it at that. I didn’t rise to the bait of a lot of those posts, which I think probably got me some flack, but I knew we were already in development for TV, and I want to make sure that role is open to as much diversity as possible. So I was never going to give the readers my vision because I know that once you give the readers your vision, that’s what they’re gonna stick to. And I wanted to make sure we left it open to as much diversity as possible.”

In the same interview, she added, “Outlier is such a great production company and they have a wonderful diversity and inclusion rider, one of the first companies to have them, which is why I was so joyful, because I knew they would respect the diversity of cast.”

This story will be updated.