‘Tempest’: ‘Red Queen’ Author Officially Confirms New Adult Fantasy TV Series is in the Works!!

For over five years now, Peacock has been dead set on adapting Victoria Aveyard‘s best-selling YA fantasy novel Red Queen into a television series. Things seemed primed for the one-hour drama to move much quicker than it ultimately has, with Elizabeth Banks attached to both direct and appear in a major supporting role and former Arrow showrunner Beth Schwartz joining the author in co-writing. However, their attempts at capturing the dystopian vision of America, where a superpowered monarchy rules over the masses without abilities of their own, have not borne fruit yet. Updates have been few and far between, though development is still ongoing, with Banks sticking around for the long haul as a producer.

There may be no telling when viewers will see Mare Barrow’s story brought to life, but that’s not slowing Aveyard down. She currently has a new adult fantasy novel, Tempest, due to be published in September and billed as an “epic adventure of love and betrayal, amid a brutal war for the high seas” set towards the end of the Golden Age of Piracy. It’ll follow Cat Rose, a former noblewoman turned queen of a pirate tavern on the Lyrian Sea, who is caught between her old life and her current reality when The Meridian Empire brings the weight of its navy down upon the marauders on the ocean. One by one, the pirate empire begins to fall, but they struggle to bring in one particularly slippery sailor, Valerian Kane, who might be the only hope of rallying the remaining buccaneers against the empire. Desperate to quash any hope of rebellion, they approach Cat with a proposition to find and haul in the only man she’s ever loved, or hang for her crimes.

At its heart, Tempest is a story of choice between love and duty that will force Cat to embrace rebellion or settle for survival. Although it’s not even out yet and Red Queen hasn’t even got off the ground, it’s now also set to get the television treatment. A recent report confirmed that Chernin Entertainment has acquired the rights to adapt the fantasy novel for the small screen, though exactly where it will land is unknown at this time. No creatives are attached, but Peter Chernin and Tracey Cook are on board as executive producers alongside Aveyard, while their studio’s Rachel Moore will oversee the project.

Chernin Entertainment Has a Stellar Track Record of Success Across Genres

2026 has already been quite a successful year for Chernin. The studio is coming off producing a red-hot hit in Kane Parsons‘ horror feature Backrooms based on his popular YouTube series. Along with rave reviews, it’s become the latest example of online creators taking Hollywood by storm, scoring a staggering $331 million on a budget of just $10 million. Aside from that, the banner has found success on streaming with the Netflix smash Apex and the new Yahya Abdul-Mateen II-led take on Man on Fire. Chernin is also behind Jason Momoa‘s Apple TV success, Chief of War from last year, and his previous dystopian vehicle, See. With their partnership, there’s hope that Tempest won’t be caught in the same lengthy development process that has kept Red Queen from reaching the screen.