As we wait for any morsels of an update for the forthcoming Fourth Wing adaptation, the fandom has taken it upon themselves to fan-cast some of the main characters, with Violet Sorrengail and Xaden Riorson, of course, being the most important. Eagle-eyed fans have spotted clues that could mean potential castings, and Dune: Prophecy actor Josh Heuston has certainly fueled the speculation fire.
The Australian actor has been spotted reading Rebecca Yarros’s Empyrean series on multiple occasions, and fans have noticed that not only does he follow the bestselling author (and the show’s producer, Michael B. Jordan) on Instagram, but he also allegedly liked a post about the Amazon adaptation. Clearly, Heuston is a fan of the romantasy phenomenon, but is there any more to the story?
Josh Heuston playfully laughs off Fourth Wing casting rumors
As expected, journalists can’t stop asking Heuston about the Fourth Wing casting rumors (I wouldn’t be able to resist either!), and he’s remained tight-lipped on any potential plans. While promoting his upcoming Prime Video series Off Campus, Heuston and co-star Mika Abdalla were interviewed by Brit + Co, who asked the Heartbreak High alum if there's any truth to the speculation.
“I don’t know. I’ve said it before, we’ll leave it up to the scribes, I suppose. Or the writers, how ever you want to say that,” Heuston replied, laughing. Whether or not he’s been cast for a role, he doesn’t seem to hate the question, continuing to giggle after his response for a few seconds.
Of course, fans have already taken to the YouTube video’s comments section to react to the Fourth Wing talk, with one writing, “so he basically just told us he's xaden,” and another adding, “He's a perfect Xaden!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!” followed by a bunch of excited emojis.
As mentioned, this is hardly the first time Heuston has discussed Fourth Wing, or his potential casting in the Amazon show. While at a premiere for The Last of Us season 2 last April, the actor played coy when acknowledging that fans want him to play Xaden or Bodhi. “You have to ask the scribes, I suppose,” he answered, a response he’s got pretty rehearsed at this point.
“Hopefully, who knows?” he added after the interviewer joked that the name “Xaden” suits him.
Even more of actor Josh Heuston talking about Xaden Riorson and Fourth Wing last night. 🖤⚔️ pic.twitter.com/SvYISt3Fuk
— xaden (@HouseOfRiorson) April 3, 2025
Of course, no official castings for the adaptation have been announced, but if Heuston does end up portraying Xaden (or anyone else, for that matter), we know book fans will be pleased. I definitely will be!
Latest Fourth Wing show update
It may feel like forever since it was first reported back in 2023 that Amazon would be adapting Fourth Wing for TV, and sadly, we still don’t have any real indication which actors we’ll see in the roles. That said, there has been news to come out of the development process, including a promising update from Yarros during a recent event.
As seen from the Instagram account @romantasyillustrated, Yarros touched on the adaptation while speaking at Jennifer L. Armentrout’s book convention ApollyCon in April, sharing that the team is “great” and “all the ideas are good.” She went on to say she has “zero complaints” about the process, assuring audience members that the show is “in really great hands.”
Though the show has been in development for years now, it was announced in late 2025 that a new showrunner was taking over, with Meredith Averill (Wednesday) replacing Moira Walley-Beckett (Anne With an E). With a change that big, we hope that indicates development started picking back up again at that time. No filming schedule has been revealed yet, though we’re crossing our fingers for an update on that soon.
Keep up with us at Winter Is Coming for the latest Fourth Wing news.
Add us as a preferred source on Google