The wait is over for one of the most argued-about casting questions in fantasy fandom. On Tuesday, October 21, Amazon MGM Studios officially confirmed that Esther McGregor will play Violet Sorrengail and Emilio Sakraya will play Xaden Riorson in Prime Video’s upcoming Fourth Wing series, the TV adaptation of Rebecca Yarros’ bestselling Empyrean novels.
The announcement follows reports from the previous week that the two actors had landed the roles. Now it’s official, and fans finally have faces to put to the dragon riders of Basgiath War College.
Who are Esther McGregor and Emilio Sakraya?
According to Amazon’s announcement, McGregor is known for We Were Liars, Prime Video’s adaptation of another popular young adult novel. Sakraya is known for Rhinegold, the German biographical crime film.
Neither actor is a household name yet, which may be exactly the point. Big book adaptations often go with rising performers who can grow into a franchise over several seasons, rather than stars whose existing image might overshadow beloved characters.
The story the series will tell
For anyone who hasn’t read the books, Fourth Wing follows Violet Sorrengail, a fiercely intelligent and often underestimated 20-year-old. As Deadline recaps, Violet expects to become a Scribe, a historian, following in the footsteps of her father. Instead, her mother, General Lilith Sorrengail, forces her into Basgiath War College, where hundreds of candidates compete to become dragon riders for the kingdom of Navarre.
The college has one rule: graduate or die. There, Violet meets Xaden Riorson, a brooding fellow candidate from a rebellious bloodline with shadow-wielding powers and a complicated past. He starts as her enemy and, as readers know well, becomes much more than that.
That enemies-to-lovers arc, the dragons and the brutal stakes of the war college are a big part of why the books became a phenomenon. They also make the series a demanding production, since bringing dragons and their bonds with riders to life on screen will take serious visual effects work.
What the author and the studio said
Yarros sounded thrilled with the choice. “I’m so grateful to our producing and casting team for conducting a thorough, worldwide search to find Violet and Xaden,” she said in the announcement. “It will be incredibly exciting to see these talented actors, Esther and Emilio, bring our beloved characters to life on screen.”
Peter Friedlander, head of global television at Amazon MGM Studios, acknowledged the pressure that comes with the project. “Few stories have inspired the kind of passionate, worldwide fandom that Rebecca Yarros has built with Fourth Wing, and we know just how much Violet and Xaden mean to readers,” he said, calling the two leads “rare and exceptional talents.”
Lisa Joy, who will direct the pilot, added: “Esther and Emilio are brilliant, magnetic actors. We cannot wait for the world to see what they will do with these incredible characters.”
A heavyweight team behind the camera
The creative lineup is a big reason fans are optimistic. Meredith Averill, known for The Haunting of Hill House and Locke & Key, is the showrunner. Lisa Joy, co-founder of Kilter Films and an executive producer on Fallout, directs the premiere episode.
Executive producers include:
- Rebecca Yarros herself
- Lisa Joy, Jonathan Nolan and Athena Wickham via Kilter Films
- Michael B. Jordan and Elizabeth Raposo via Outlier Society
- Liz Pelletier and Sherryl Clark via Premeditated Productions
Deadline notes that Amazon acquired the TV rights in 2023, but the show wasn’t officially greenlit until this May. The plan, if the first season succeeds, is to adapt the rest of the novels over multiple seasons.
How much story is there to tell?
Plenty. The Empyrean series is planned as five books. Fourth Wing and Iron Flame both arrived in 2023, followed by Onyx Storm in 2025. Yarros is writing a fourth novel, still untitled, with a fifth to follow. She also recently released Threshing Day, a companion collection of 13 short stories told from the point of view of dragon riders as they meet their dragons.
The series will stream exclusively on Prime Video in more than 240 countries and territories. No premiere date has been announced yet, so don’t expect to see Violet on the parapet any time soon.
What fans should watch for next
With the leads locked in, the next big questions are who will play the rest of the cast and what the dragons will look like. Fans will be especially eager to learn who plays Tairn and Andarna, the dragons Violet bonds with in the first book, along with key figures like Dain, Rhiannon and General Sorrengail.
The bottom line
Fourth Wing has officially found its Violet and Xaden. With Esther McGregor and Emilio Sakraya confirmed, a proven showrunner, Lisa Joy behind the camera for the pilot and the author on board as an executive producer, Prime Video is clearly treating this as one of its next big fantasy franchises. Now comes the hard part: waiting for the first look.
Image: Temple Bar Dragon Sculpture Marking Boundary Between London and Westminster by Gary Lee Todd, Ph.D. via Flickr, CC0 1.0
