The Empyrean series by Rebecca Yarros is easily one of the most popular book series of the 2020s. Since Fourth Wing was published in 2023, we've seen two more books in Yarros' series, Iron Flame and Onyx Storm. Now, fans are waiting rather patiently for the fourth book of The Empyrean series, which is widely regarded as Book 4.
Over the last few months, we've had a few updates about Book 4, so I thought it would be a good idea to put them all together in one place so fans are all on the same page about where Yarros is at with Book 4.
There's a chance we could learn some big updates in the next few months, too. Yarros has a few events scheduled to promote Threshing Day, the first Empyrean novella, which arrives on Sept. 29, 2026. Then, Yarros has Peculiar Stars, another book, scheduled to be released on Nov. 17.
Let's get into those updates Yarros has shared that fans of The Empyrean series need to know!
Rebecca Yarros started writing Book 4 in March 2026
Despite Onyx Storm coming in January 2025, Yarros didn't actually start writing Book 4 right away. It's been well documented, but just in case some fans are out of the loop, Yarros had some other projects to write first, including Peculiar Stars and Threshing Day, which are both coming later this year. In addition, Yarros needed a break after the daunting task of writing Onyx Storm.
On the Book Hook Podcast, Yarros shared that she broke down after turning in the third book.
"I was so burnt out, like so burnt out and exhausted because it had been two and a half years of 17-hour days," Yarros revealed on the podcast.
In early 2026, Yarros revealed on social media that she started plotting Book 4 and was prepping to start writing the book. Then, on March 19, Yarros posted on Instagram that she had officially started writing Book 4.
"And now that my latest contemporary novel is off to my editor, I’m back writing in the Empyrean world for the foreseeable future. Let’s ride," Yarros captioned a video of her writing "#4" on a white board.
We still don't have a title yet, but hopefully, we'll find out soon!
Yarros revealed Book 4 is plotted and that she's plotting Book 5 as she writes
Yarros revealed back in May 2026 that one of the reasons that Book 4 was off to a slower start than her other books was that she was actually plotting the fifth book in The Empyrean series as she went. The fifth book will actually be the final book of the series.
On Sept. 14, Yarros attended Fourth Wing Night for the New York Mets and did a Q&A with fans in attendance. Thanks to some videos shared by fans, Yarros shared a status update on Book 4 and Book 5.
In the video posted by Francis Dominic, Yarros was asked, since she's plotting the last two books together, if she sees anything differently from the first three books.
"Okay, so yes, [Book] 4 is plotted, and I'm writing it," Yarros said. "I'm plotting [Book] 5 at the same time, just to make sure I tie up everything, because a personal pet peeve of mine is when you think a series is this long and then we go on and we go on and we go on. Not that I don't love these characters. I'm honestly pretty sad to think that I will be saying goodbye to them at some point."
As you can hear in the video, Yarros confirmed that she's writing Book 4 now. The book has already been plotted, and she revealed that she's still plotting Book 5. That's obviously great news because it likely means that we might have a smaller gap between Book 4 and Book 5 than we will have between Onyx Storm and Book 4. We still don't know when Book 4 will be released, but I know fans are hoping that it will be sometime next year.
Yarros will continue writing Book 4 throughout the fall
As mentioned, Yarros is hitting the road for some book events for the release of Threshing Day later this month and into the beginning of October. Well, Yarros announced the tour on social media this month and mentioned that she wished that she could visit more cities for this tour, but she can't because she's writing Book 4 this fall.
"I can’t wait to see some of you in these four cities," Yarros said in a post on Instagram. "I know dates are limited and wish I could spend multiple weeks visiting with you guys, but this fall is wildly busy between releases and writing book four, so stay tuned because there are more events coming up for my Peculiar Stars tour!"
Of course, on the surface, that doesn't seem like much of a hint, but I think it's quite a big clue that Yarros probably won't be finishing Book 4 anytime soon.
I don't think anyone was expecting Yarros to write Book 4 in, like, six months, although that's roughly how long it took to write Onyx Storm. Yarros has been very open about the toll that writing that book took on her health, so I think it's safe to assume she'll take a little more time with the next book in the series.
Those are the most recent, big updates about Book 4 that fans need to know. With Threshing Day coming later this month, I'm hoping that we get some more updates soon. Stay tuned for more news!
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