Is the ‘Red Queen’ TV Show Still Happening? Victoria Aveyard Says It’s a ‘Very Slow Process’
From strikes to scripts, here is why the highly anticipated YA adaptation is taking so long
Key Takeaways
- The highly anticipated ‘Red Queen’ TV show adaptation is still actively in pre-production.
- Hollywood delays and the 2023 industry strikes slowed down the script and meeting momentum.
- Author Victoria Aveyard and executive producer Elizabeth Banks remain fully into to the show.
Back in the early 2010s, young adult fantasy and dystopian novels were all the rage. We’re talking The Hunger Games, The Maze Runner, Divergent and more. Most of the ones that were popular then got film or TV show adaptations, with the exception of Victoria Aveyard’s Red Queen series. It’s been in the works for a while, but there has been a lot of speculation about if it will ever actually happen. Below, we share everything you need to know about the Red Queen adaptation, including if there’s a release date for it yet.
What is ‘Red Queen?’
Red Queen follows Mare Barrow, a poor girl with Red blood who finds herself living in the castle among the elite Silver-blooded ruling class. The Silvers possess extraordinary powers—and shockingly, so does Mare. To hide her Red blood and explain her abilities, the royals claim she’s a long-lost Silver princess betrothed to a prince. But while playing the part of royalty, Mare is secretly working with the Red rebellion to bring down the very system she’s pretending to be part of. A thrilling tale perfect for fans of love triangles, danger and deceit.
The novel was originally published in 2015, and Aveyard later expanded the series with three follow-up novels: Glass Sword, King’s Cage and War Storm. She also released the companion collection Broken Throne in 2019 (consisting of previously published novellas, new short stories, journal entries and more), followed by the graphic novel Red School, co-written with Soman Chainani, in 2020.
“I got so lucky with that series and its reception, and of course, I want to keep my readers happy and entertained with whatever I do next. As a creative, you’re always in competition with yourself and trying to improve. That’s a heavy weight to carry, but the success of Red Queen also gave me a lot of opportunity to do what I wanted next,” Aveyard told Dead Darlings in 2021. “The Red Queen roller coaster taught me so much about the publishing industry and myself as a career writer. My most valuable lesson has been learning to let go of what I can’t control, which is most of this industry. I have a very limited scope of what I can and cannot do, and what is worth my energy. Finding those boundaries has been key to protecting my writing time and my writing mind.”
Is there going to be a ‘Red Queen’ TV show?
In 2021 it was announced that Red Queen was going to be turned into a TV show on Peacock. Elizabeth Banks had signed on as a producer and director and, for a time, Aveyard posted updates of her reading scripts and having meetings dedicated to the adaptation. Those have since slowed down, leaving fans to wonder “is it still happening?”
The short answer is yes, though things have been stalled for a variety of reasons. One of them was the writers and actors strike in 2023, another being Hollywood’s tendency to simply move slowly.
“This is a very slow process, but I’m lucky to have a team as dedicated to the story as I am. We’re working on it as we speak,” Aveyard wrote on her website.
As of now, the series remains in pre-production, meaning there are still no confirmed cast members, release date or concrete plot details. The expectation is that the adaptation will largely follow the events of the first book, though longtime readers know that Hollywood adaptations often make significant changes to their source material.
One element fans are especially hoping survives the transition to the screen is the story’s action, something Aveyard herself has frequently praised as one of the series’ biggest strengths
“Action setpieces are my absolute favorite thing to write. I’m pretty much always in the mood to do them, but music certainly helps the process. I usually brainstorm out the dynamics and choreography of a fight to music beforehand,” she told The Guardian in 2015. “It gives me the little sparks of imagination when I get to the gaps in my own creativity. And watching some great set piece scenes doesn’t hurt either.”
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