19 Upcoming Romantasy Book To Screen Adaptations (Most Anticipated!)

Fourth Wing is the dragon-riding, war-college phenomenon that turned an entire generation of readers into romantasy devotees overnight. It follows Violet Sorrengail, a small, chronically underestimated young woman forced by her own mother into the brutal Basgiath War College, where cadets either bond with a dragon and become elite riders, or they die trying. The motto really is graduate or die, darlings, and the book means it.

What We Know About the Adaptation: This is happening, and it is happening at Prime Video. After a famously bumpy development, Amazon MGM Studios officially ordered Fourth Wing to series in May 2026, announced by executive producer Michael B. Jordan during Amazon’s upfront presentation. Meredith Averill, of The Haunting of Hill House, is showrunner, Lisa Joy of Kilter Films is directing the pilot, and Rebecca Yarros is executive producing. No cast has been announced yet, though Yarros has said her one non-negotiable is that Xaden is not played by a white actor.

If you have spent any time on werewolf BookTok, you already know why I am so excited about this one. The Wolf King began life as a self-published indie in 2023 and clawed its way to bestseller status through pure word-of-mouth devotion, which is the kind of underdog story I will never tire of telling. It follows Aurora, a princess treated as a decorative pawn her whole life, until she is abducted by a brooding werewolf alpha and thrown into a savage war between humankind and her feral captors. It is morally grey, it is feral, and it never once lets Aurora stay a prize to be claimed.

What We Know About the Adaptation: Starz is adapting the full Wolf King trilogy for television, with Tanya Saracho, creator of the acclaimed Starz series Vida, attached as showrunner and executive producer. What warms my heart is that Saracho found this series as an indie release over a year ago and has been championing it ever since. Author Lauren Palphreyman is also executive producing, and Starz has optioned all three books. It is in active development with no release date yet. I wrote a full breakdown of the Wolf King TV show at Starz.

For readers who love a forbidden romance with a deadly competition at its heart, Powerless is calling your name. Lauren Roberts’ bestselling trilogy is set in the kingdom of Ilya, split between the Elites, who each wield a superhuman power, and the Ordinaries, who have none and are hunted for it. Our heroine Paedyn Gray is an Ordinary scraping by as a thief, until her act lands her in the deadly Purging Trials alongside the Elites, including the king’s own son, Kai. This one leans a little younger and less spicy, which makes it a perfect gateway romantasy, but the slow-burn, touch-her-and-die tension builds beautifully across the trilogy.

What We Know About the Adaptation: Powerless is in development as a series at Amazon MGM Studios, landing on Prime Video right alongside Fourth Wing. The showrunner is Daphne Ferraro, head writer on the breakout first season of the German hit Maxton Hall, so she knows how to translate swoony, high-stakes YA to the screen. Lauren Roberts is executive producing, and the first season will adapt the first novel. No cast has been announced yet.

A staple of every romantasy starter pack, and for very good reason. From Blood and Ash follows Poppy, a young woman chosen from birth as the Maiden of her kingdom, destined to Ascend, which sounds lovely until you realise it means a solitary, isolated life with no choices of her own. She would far rather be fighting alongside the guards, and everything shifts when Hawke, a golden-eyed guard honour-bound to protect her, enters her life. What I love here is the sheer momentum, plus a fandom so fierce it is a genre in its own right.

What We Know About the Adaptation: This one has moved house, so let me untangle it. The Blood and Ash series was previously set up at Amazon Studios, but that version stalled and the option expired. As of 2026, Sony Pictures Television, the studio behind Starz’s Outlander, has picked up the rights for an ongoing series spanning the first five books, with room to expand. Armentrout has said Sony jumped in with a strong creative team. It is still very early days, with no casting or timeline confirmed.

If you like your romantasy with a big helping of dry, dark humour, this is the one for you. Born from a viral TikTok skit series, Assistant to the Villain is pitched as Once Upon a Time meets The Office, and it absolutely delivers. It follows Evie Sage, who, with an ailing family to support, takes a job as assistant to the kingdom’s most infamous Villain. Between the severed heads suspended from the ceiling and the odd squished eyeball underfoot, she really should not be developing a teeny crush on her terrifying, temperamental boss. It is grumpy x sunshine at its most delightfully deranged, and it has sold over a million copies for good reason.

What We Know About the Adaptation: After a tough bidding war, Legendary Entertainment won the rights to develop Assistant to the Villain for television. Author Hannah Nicole Maehrer is executive producing alongside Entangled’s Liz Pelletier and Sharon Hall. The series is in early development, with the script and casting still to come. With a fourth book, Adversary to the Villain, landing in 2026, there is plenty of material to keep the show going.

A lush, dark King Midas retelling that has haunted me since I first picked it up. Gild is the opening book of the Plated Prisoner saga, following Auren, a woman gold-touched by King Midas so that her skin, her hair, everything but her teeth and the whites of her eyes is solid gold. She lives kept in a gilded cage at the top of his castle, safe and adored, until a single deal shatters everything she thought she knew about the man she gave her heart to. It is a slow, gorgeous descent from captivity into hard-won self-possession, and Auren’s arc across the series is one of the most satisfying in romantasy.

What We Know About the Adaptation: The Plated Prisoner series is being developed as a television adaptation at Peter Guber’s Mandalay Television, the company behind Amazon’s I Know What You Did Last Summer. Kate Rorick, showrunner of Leverage: Redemption, is attached as showrunner, and the project covers all six books, Gild, Glint, Gleam, Glow, Gold, and Goldfinch. It is in development, with no cast or release date yet.

For the dark academia lovers among us, this one is a treat. From the author of Babel and Yellowface, Katabasis is a razor-sharp fantasy set in a world where Magick is real and something you can earn a PhD in. It follows Alice Law, a brilliant, burnt-out doctoral candidate who descends into Hell itself to retrieve the soul of her dead advisor and secure the recommendation letter her whole future depends on. Her academic rival, Peter Murdoch, comes along for the journey through the courts of the underworld. It is more slow-burn rivals than steamy romance, but the tension between Alice and Peter is exquisite.

What We Know About the Adaptation: Amazon MGM Studios optioned Katabasis for a Prime Video television series before the book was even published, which tells you how much confidence there is in it. Angela Kang, showrunner of The Walking Dead for its final three seasons, is writing and showrunning, with R.F. Kuang executive producing. It is in early development, with no cast or release date yet.

From the creator of the Grishaverse comes her first adult novel, and it is deliciously dark. Ninth House follows Galaxy “Alex” Stern, a twenty-year-old high-school dropout and the sole survivor of a horrific unsolved homicide, who is offered a mysterious full ride to Yale. Her task: to monitor the university’s secret societies and their dangerous occult magic. It is atmospheric, gothic, and genuinely unsettling, with a slow-burning, thorny relationship at its centre. This one leans more dark fantasy horror than swoony romantasy, but the tension and the gorgeous prose earn it a place on the list.

What We Know About the Adaptation: Amazon Studios won Ninth House in a bidding war back in 2019, and Leigh Bardugo is writing and executive producing the Prime Video series. Bardugo has said a pilot was filmed that she absolutely loves, though the wheels of Hollywood turn slowly, in her words, and the project has been in development for years with no release date. Still, with the author so hands-on, it is in caring hands.

From the beloved author of Caraval comes her adult debut, and it is exactly the kind of atmospheric, romantic magic I adore. Alchemy of Secrets follows Holland St. James, who is told by a mysterious local legend called the Watch Man that she will die at midnight tomorrow unless she finds an ancient object called the Alchemical Heart. The clock ticking, she is pulled into a hidden magical world woven through the streets of Los Angeles, and into the path of a magnetic, untrustworthy stranger. It is romance and intrigue and folklore, and it feels like a Lana Del Rey song in the best possible way.

What We Know About the Adaptation: Alchemy of Secrets is in development as a drama series at Universal Television, and here is the dreamy part, Julie Plec, creator of The Vampire Diaries, is writing and executive producing alongside Emily Cummins. Stephanie Garber is also executive producing. Garber has called this the book she most wanted to see adapted, and with Plec attached, the tone should be gorgeous. It is in early development.

Now for the dark and delicious one. Quicksilver is the first book in Callie Hart’s Fae and Alchemy series, and it took BookTok completely hostage. It follows Saeris Fane, a twenty-four-year-old pickpocket with secret alchemical powers, who comes face to face with Death and accidentally reopens a gateway between realms. She is flung into the frozen fae world of Yvelia, where she binds herself to a brutally handsome, mercurial fae warrior named Kingfisher. I adore it for how unapologetically adult it is, the banter is razor-sharp, the tension is off the charts, and Kingfisher has rightly earned his place in the shadow-daddy hall of fame.

What We Know About the Adaptation: Netflix won a heated seven-figure bidding war for the film rights to Quicksilver, taking the whole Fae and Alchemy trilogy. Elizabeth Cantillon, of Alien: Romulus, is producing, and Callie Hart is executive producing with what she calls a considerable voice in the project. Her number one priority is keeping the movie dark, gritty, and sexy, absolutely not a watered-down YA adaptation. A script has been written, with a director and casting still to come, so most estimates point to a release no sooner than late 2027 or 2028.

A slightly different flavour, because Shatter Me sits right on the border between dystopian and romantasy, and I could not leave it off. Set in a crumbling world ruled by the oppressive Reestablishment, it follows seventeen-year-old Juliette Ferrars, locked alone in an asylum cell and treated as a monster because her touch is lethal. Everything changes when the Reestablishment’s young, ruthless leader, Warner, decides to harness her deadly gift. I have been waiting for this adaptation for a genuinely embarrassing number of years, and Aaron Warner remains one of the most divisive and beloved love interests in the whole crossover space.

What We Know About the Adaptation: Warner Bros. officially acquired the film rights to the Shatter Me series in June 2026, right alongside the fifteenth anniversary of the original book. It is being developed as a film rather than a series. The producing team is stacked with young-adult pedigree, including several Twilight producers, and Tahereh Mafi is executive producing. There is no release date, director, screenwriter, or cast yet. I wrote a full breakdown of the Warner Bros. Shatter Me adaptation.

If you love a rivals-to-lovers with your whole chest, Divine Rivals will undo you. Set against an ancient war between dueling gods, it follows eighteen-year-old Iris Winnow, a young journalist whose brother has gone missing at the front. When her letters to him magically fall into the hands of Roman Kitt, her cold and handsome rival at the paper, an unexpected connection blooms across enchanted typewriters. It is You’ve Got Mail meets a mystical World War I, it is aching and hopeful in equal measure, and it made me sob more than once.

What We Know About the Adaptation: After a competitive bidding war, Paramount Pictures won the film rights to Divine Rivals. Sofia Alvarez, who wrote Netflix’s To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before films, is penning the script, with Lorenzo di Bonaventura and Pouya Shahbazian producing and Rebecca Ross executive producing. Ross has confirmed the screenplay is being written, and a sequel film adapting Ruthless Vows is a real possibility if the first performs. No cast or release date yet.

A BookTok origin story if ever there was one, Lightlark went viral before it was even published. Every one hundred years, the island of Lightlark appears to host the Centennial, a deadly game in which the rulers of six cursed realms compete for the chance to break their curses, and to destroy the curses, one ruler must die. It follows Isla Crown, the young ruler of Wildling, a realm of women cursed to kill anyone they fall in love with. To survive, she must lie, cheat, and betray, even as love complicates everything with the villainous, magnetic Grim.

What We Know About the Adaptation: Universal Pictures preemptively landed the film rights to Lightlark, developing it in partnership with Temple Hill, the company behind the Twilight films, and the studio has flagged franchise potential. Alex Aster is executive producing. The film is in pre-production with no cast or release date confirmed, though Aster has said everyone involved is doing an incredible job.

One of the most talked-about debuts of the decade, Alchemised began life as the wildly popular Dramione fan fiction Manacled before being reworked into an entirely original dark romantasy. Set in the war-torn world of Paladia, ruled by necromancers and corrupt guild families, it follows Helena Marino, a former alchemist who wakes with her memories gone, imprisoned by a powerful necromancer determined to probe her fractured mind for the secrets it may hold. It is gothic, morally grey, and deeply intense, absolutely not one for the faint of heart, and I mean that as the highest compliment.

What We Know About the Adaptation: In one of the largest rights deals ever struck for a debut, Legendary Entertainment bought the film rights to Alchemised in a reported deal exceeding three million dollars, before the book was even released. SenLinYu has spoken of their excitement to see the world of Paladia come to life. The project is in early development, with no director, cast, or release date yet.

A beloved classic of the genre, The Lunar Chronicles reimagines Cinderella, Little Red Riding Hood, Rapunzel, and Snow White as heroines in a dazzling sci-fi future. It opens with Cinder, a cyborg mechanic in New Beijing caught between a deadly plague sweeping Earth and the tyrannical Lunar queen Levana, with a swoony prince named Kai along the way. Across the series, the romances layer beautifully into an epic saga about tyranny and found family. It is the series that raised a generation of readers, and I cannot wait to see it on screen.

What We Know About the Adaptation: Warner Bros. Pictures Animation and Locksmith Animation are producing The Lunar Chronicles as a 3D animated feature, rumoured to be the first of a trilogy, with a confirmed cinema release date of November 3, 2028. Noelle Raffaele is directing, Industrial Light and Magic is providing animation, and Marissa Meyer has been sharing her joy over the completed scripts. Of everything on this list, this is the one with the firmest date on the calendar.

Dark academia with teeth. A Deadly Education is the first book in Naomi Novik’s Scholomance trilogy, set in a magical school with no teachers, no holidays, and only two ways out, graduation or death. It follows Galadriel “El” Higgins, a snarky, prickly sorceress with a dark power strong enough to level mountains, who has to survive the monsters, the class politics, and her own reluctant heart. The slow-burn thaw between El and the infuriatingly heroic Orion Lake is the beating centre of it, and El’s spiky narration is an absolute joy.

What We Know About the Adaptation: Universal Pictures optioned the Scholomance trilogy and is developing A Deadly Education as a feature film. Meera Menon, who directed episodes of Ms. Marvel and For All Mankind, is attached to direct, with Emily Carmichael and Shantha Susman writing the script and Todd Lieberman and David Hoberman producing. It has been in development for a while, with no cast or release date announced yet.

A quick note for anyone tracking this one, the Dragon Cursed heading to screen is Elise Kova’s 2026 slow-burn dragon romantasy, not the older series of the same name. Kova’s Dragon Cursed hit number one on the New York Times list in its opening week, and it is exactly my kind of read. In a world where the appearance of a dragon is usually your last sight, the last human city stands against a scourge that transforms the infected into mindless beasts. Our heroine hides a deadly secret, and her fate rests in the hands of the dangerous enforcer assigned to shadow her, part protector, part tormentor, fully annoying, in the best way.

What We Know About the Adaptation: Amazon MGM Studios optioned Dragon Cursed for a feature film in January 2026, developing it with Premeditated Productions, the same company behind the Fourth Wing series, as part of its first-look deal adapting Entangled Publishing titles. Liz Pelletier and Sherryl Clark are producing. It is in early development.

Devney Perry, long a queen of small-town romance, made a triumphant leap into romantasy with Shield of Sparrows, and it generated serious buzz before it even hit shelves. It is a slow-burn, high-stakes story set in a cursed realm plagued by monsters, political intrigue, and forbidden alliances. The heroine is a forgotten princess who has spent her life constrained by expectation and secrecy, until danger forces her out of the shadows to embrace a role she was never meant to play. Romance and survival are tightly braided together, with every relationship tested against looming catastrophe.

What We Know About the Adaptation: Shield of Sparrows is in development as a feature film at Amazon MGM Studios, under its first-look deal with Premeditated Productions. Excitingly, the script is being written by Derek Kolstad, creator of the John Wick franchise, which signals a big emphasis on action and cinematic scope. Devney Perry and Kolstad are both executive producing. It is in early development.

A politically charged enemies-to-lovers that fans have been begging to see on screen for years. The Bridge Kingdom follows Lara, a princess trained her entire life as a weapon and sent to marry the king of an enemy kingdom, with orders to betray him and bring his realm to its knees. The trouble is that the king, Aren, is nothing like the tyrant she was raised to hate, and the marriage of convenience she was sent to sabotage becomes the one thing she cannot bear to destroy. It is spy-versus-spy tension, slow-burn devotion, and gorgeous world-building all at once.

What We Know About the Adaptation: The Bridge Kingdom is being developed as a feature film as part of the inaugural live-action slate from Red Sage Studios, a new production company founded by former Amazon MGM International executive James Farrell, focused on premium YA storytelling with built-in fanbases. It is in early development, with no cast or release date yet.