Author Rebecca Yarros‘ fantasy book series The Empyrean is being developed for TV starting with its first title, Fourth Wing by Amazon Studios alongside Michael B. Jordan’s production company, Outlier Society, Deadline reports. The acquisition took place before the WGA strike and in a heated auction, Amazon snapped the rights to the book series. Outlier has an overall series deal with Amazon and will executive produce the series.

Yarros’ Fourth Wing is the first part of a series of books and is counted among the New York Times Bestsellers List. The story follows the 20-year-old protagonist, Violet Sorrengail, in the cutthroat world of Basgiath War College, “where there is only one rule: Graduate or Die.” While Violet lives a quiet life between her books and history, things take a turn when her mother, a war general, tasks her to join the hundreds of candidates striving to become a dragon rider and join the elite league of Navarre. The competition is intense because if Violet isn’t killed by the fire-breathing beasts, one of her fellow riders just might.

In the times when IPs are seen as the sure shot to gather an audience in the theaters, Amazon has a good deal on its hands as Fourth Wing has a massive fan base, having spent 25 weeks on the NYT Bestsellers list, out of which 13 were on the top spot. Yarros has so far published more than 20 books, including titles like Great and Precious Things, In the Likely Event, A Little Too Close, The Things We Leave Unfinished, The Last Letter, and Reason to Believe, but Fourth Wing is her first foray into fantasy genre.

The ‘Fourth Wing’ Universe Is Expanding

A sequel book Iron Flame is eyeing a November debut and three more books in the series are due. Per the report, if the response to the series is good, Amazon has plans to turn it into a franchise. Fantasy projects are typically are hit or miss with audiences; while shows like Sandman, House of the Dragon, and the likes have seen major fanfare, Amazon’s own Wheel of Time and The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power have seen less favorable reviews from the audiences. No release date has been set for the series but stay tuned to Collider for further developments.

via Collider