One thing that Hollywood is known for is buying books and then letting the planned adaptations languish, especially when it comes to the fantasy genre. Fantasy stories are known for being epic and expensive to produce. While the initial idea of a chosen novel might sound great on paper, when it comes time to figure out the nitty-gritty financial details, many studios balk or shift focus.
For every big success, like Game of Thrones, there are dozens more projects left to rot in what we call "development hell." It doesn't mean that these stories will never appear onscreen, just that they are now in limbo, where it's unclear whether they will eventually come to fruition or disappear forever into the void. Ever since I watched the Apple TV+ series The Studio, I can't help but wonder if some of this is an intentional way for companies to block others from producing a potential mega-hit, but I digress.
Who knows? Maybe if this list of fantasy adaptations in development hell gains enough traction, it will prompt some authors or producers to give fans a long-awaited update!
1. Ninth House by Leigh Bardugo
An adaptation of Leigh Bardugo's book Ninth House, the first in her Alex Stern series, was formally announced in 2019 with Amazon nabbing the rights to develop the book into a television show. But there has been little news on the show since then.
In 2023, Bardugo told Collider that a pilot episode had been written and revealed how excited she was for the show overall, admitting that "the wheels of Hollywood turn very slowly." Seeing as no casting announcements or any other significant updates have been made since then, I don't feel hopeful about this series actually happening.
I would love to see Ninth House as a TV show. It's Bardugo's first adult fantasy series, and the horror elements and dark academia setting make for a compelling story. Unlike the Netflix adaptation of Bardugo's Shadow and Bone books, she would be heavily involved in the writing and story development.
On the plus side, the author is hard at work writing the third and final novel in the trilogy. She shared an update and brief teaser earlier this year.
2. Red Queen series by Victoria Aveyard
Back in 2021, Deadline reported that Elizabeth Banks had signed on to direct a television series adaptation of the YA dystopian novel series Red Queen for Peacock, as well as play a major supporting role. However, there hasn't been any movement on the project since then. I'm a little wary of any kind of significant fantasy project moving forward at Peacock since the streamer is one of the least popular and is operating at a loss (though to be fair, many of them are).
While Banks involvement is a positive sign for the show, the Deadline article notes that Red Queen only "landed for development" at the NBCUniversal streaming service, meaning it was never guaranteed that it would go to series. If you go to author Victoria Aveyard's website and check out her FAQ page, she addresses the question of whether or not an adaptation is happening, saying, "Fingers crossed! 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!"
3. The Poppy War series by R.F. Kuang
Out of all of the books on this list, the long development process for The Poppy War might be the most baffling. This intense, grimdark fantasy series is frequently compared to Game of Thrones, and the books themselves are highly acclaimed.
It would make a great television series, but there hasn't been any significant update on its status since the initial announcement that Starlight Media had acquired the rights in 2021. I do find it frustrating that the majority of books on this list are written by women, who tend to meet more obstacles as they try to get their books adapted. This is probably the adaptation I would most like to see happen next to Ninth House.
The good news is that it hasn't been publicly canceled yet, but fans have begun to grow impatient with the lack of updates. Without even a showrunner announced yet, things aren't looking super promising.
4. A Court of Thorn and Roses series by Sarah J. Maas
A Court of Thorn and Roses (ACOTAR) is an extremely popular series within the romantasy genre. The first book alone has earned more than 3.8 million ratings on GoodReads, and these novels have been instrumental in popularizing the "BookTok" community on TikTok along with the romantasy genre as a whole. The fact that ACOTAR hasn't been adapted yet is a mystery, though I do somewhat understand it as Hollywood still shows resistance to adapting adult fantasy. There's probably some hesitance over creating a big-budget romantic fantasy show geared mostly toward women, too, but that's just my own personal theory.
Regardless, ACOTAR was in the works at Hulu with Outlander creator Ronald D. Moore said to have partnered with author Sarah J. Maas to develop the show. But last year, TVLine reported that the show would no longer be moving forward at Hulu. However, shortly after that article went live, Variety posted a rebuttal, saying the ACOTAR series is still in development, albeit barely.
According to Variety, as of February 2024, the series "is believed to no longer be in active development," meaning its fate is up in the air. As it stands now, the current iteration of ACOTAR isn't being shopped anywhere, but it's possible the rights could go somewhere else if Hulu officially scraps it.
5. Powder Mage series by Brian McClellan
In 2021, Deadline announced that Utopia Falls showrunner Joseph Mallozzi would be adapting Brian McClellan's Powder Mage series for television. It's a unique fantasy series that combines gunpowder-era warfare with magic, adding a different stylistic flair that could make it stand apart from the medieval fantasy series already in existence.
It sounds like some script work is done already, but other than that, there has been minimal news, leaving fans skeptical about whether or not this show is still in development.
6. Best Served Cold by Joe Abercrombie
This past June, we reported that the adaptation of Joe Abercrombie's First Law novel Best Served Cold might have just hit a snag. The film was supposed to star Silo's Rebecca Ferguson in the leading role of mercenary Monza Murcatto with Tim Miller (Deadpool) attached to direct. Announced back in early 2023, Best Served Cold hasn't received many updates apart from the initial news. And then during the publicity tour for his book The Devils, Abercrombie said that development has "stalled."
But as is a common thread in many of these stories, we know things in Hollywood move at a glacial pace. It's possible this project could still be made in the future. He confirmed that the movie isn't dead, but that's the unfortunate thing with a lot of adaptations. Sometimes they never "die" exactly, they just languish in development hell, hence the focus of this article.
Happily, Abercrombie has partnered with legendary director James Cameron to adapt another one of his books, The Devils. With Cameron involved, you'd think that one wouldn't stall out, but anything is possible.
7. Lightlark by Alex Aster
Among the many books that have gone viral on BookTok, Lightlark by Alex Aster — a YA high fantasy series about six rulers from six different cursed realms competing in a deadly game — is one of the most controversial. Buzzfeed News published an in-depth writeup about the controversy, but some of the most prominent reasons for it were because people felt misled by the marketing and a lot of avid readers simply felt the book was poorly written and overhyped.
Last year, Aster claimed script work was happening on an adaptation, but we're more than halfway through 2025 and the lack of casting news or director announcements is concerning. One can't help but wonder if maybe the controversy has given Universal cold feet.
8. The Cruel Prince by Holly Black
Universal Pictures acquired the rights to The Cruel Prince, the first book in Holly Black's The Folk of the Air series, in 2017. The book is about a mortal girl trying to navigate the complexities of the fairie court, but there has been virtually no movement since that first announcement. This is another unfortunate stall because The Folk of the Air series is very popular.
You'd think some of these studios might realize they're potentially sitting on gold mines. There's not much else to say about this one given the length between the initial acquisition and now, a whopping eight years. I think we can safely assume The Cruel Prince is dead unless a meaningful update comes out soon.
9. The Atlas Six by Olivie Blake
Amazon won a competitive bidding war for the adapation rights to this viral fantasy novel from Olivie Blake, about a sextet of talented magicians competing to join a secretive society. Deadline announced the news back in 2021 and Blake took to Instagram to celebrate it. However, since then there hasn't been much movement on the project, though it is still reportedly in development.
Since this announcement, the final two books in the trilogy, The Atlas Paradox and The Atlas Complex, were published. All we know is that Amazon is working on the project with Blake and the London-based production company Brightstar. But there haven't been any other casting or production announcements.
10. Blood and Ash series by Jennifer L. Armentrout
The From Blood and Ash books have drawn many comparisons to A Court of Thorns and Roses in that both are adult fantasy series with a lot of "spicy content," which is just another term many readers use to indicate the level of sex scenes/smut content in any particular novel. This series is known for being particularly steamy, which could potentially be why development has seemingly stalled.
That being said, out of the 10 books and/or series on this list, I think Armentrout's series is perhaps the one most likely to move forward. Armentrout provided an update a little over seven months ago in December 2024. On her Instagram, she posted about how the rights had expired for the original Amazon adaptation, but Sony swooped in to save the day. While no information has been revealed about the creative team, Armentrout says she's met with them and believes that her story "is in great hands."
To see some of the fantasy adaptations that are moving forward:
To stay up to date on everything fantasy, science fiction, and WiC, follow our all-encompassing Facebook page and Twitter account, sign up for our exclusive newsletter and check out our YouTube channel.