It appears that all hope may not be quite lost for fans of Sarah J. Maas’ blockbuster romantasy series A Court of Thorns and Roses who’ve been hoping to see the genre-defining saga adapted for TV. The series may yet find its way to another streamer, as Maas has reclaimed the rights to her works and, per Puck News, is “reportedly shopping the project elsewhere”.
Fans have been waiting an awfully long time to see the world of Prythian come to life. Tempo optioned the film rights to the series all the way back in 2015 – before the romantasy boom even started — and the project progressed to the point where Maas herself teased an early look at the script. But, for unknown reasons, it sputtered out soon thereafter. A TV version of ACOTAR was in the works at Hulu with Outlander’s Ronald D. Moore attached, but was ultimately scrapped.
Yes, this is the tiniest possible crumb of news for a fandom that’s been starving for a proper update on whether they’ll ever see a live-action version of Feyre and Rhysand onscreen. But, hope springs eternal, and any movement on this front is good news. But Maas herself is notoriously protective of her work and has a very clear vision of what she wants any adaptation to look like.
“Any TV movie adaptation is kind of like another facet of the worlds that I’ve created, and it’s something that I want to be in charge of—I want to be figuring out,” Maas said during an appearance on the Call Her Daddy podcast earlier this year. “I want to be learning everything that I can. I’m a type A, like, control freak a little bit. I want to know everything about how it gets made—not because of that control but just because I love movies. I love TV. I want to be a part of that, and I want to see everything adapted the way I envision it and the way I know fans want it.”
Maas’s story of a young woman who is taken to the magical world of Prythian after accidentally killing a fairy wolf to feed her family features everything from magic and royal fae courts to bonded mates and ancient curses. It’s currently sitting at six books, with at least three more on the way. It has an enormous and extremely passionate fanbase. In industry terms, this is what most networks would undoubtedly call a sure thing.
But although virtually every streamer has been chasing their own high-end fantasy franchise since Game of Thrones ended, few have found success. And almost none have figured out how to balance the hefty commitments inherently involved in bringing the biggest romantasy titles to the screen. (Netflix’s Shadow and Bone, for example, was canceled after just two seasons, and its rumored Six of Crows spinoff never even got off the ground.)
But that’s not stopping streamers from trying. Prime Video has committed to a series adaptation of Rebecca Yarros’ Fourth Wing saga, as well as a movie version of Elise Kova’s Dragon Cursed. Netflix is working on a film adaptation of Callie Hart’s popular dark romantasy Quicksilver. A half dozen more big titles have had their development rights acquired by various studios (Stephanie Garber’s Alchemy of Secrets, Rebecca Ross’ Divine Rivals, Jennifer L. Armentrout’s From Blood and Ash). But, so far, we’re still waiting for the defining romantasy adaptation of this era, which means that there’s still plenty of time for ACOTAR to find itsplace among them.
