Just over a month after Outlander signed off the air with a controversial series finale that divided fans, Starz has found its next romantasy adaptation in the form of Lauren Palphreyman’s best-selling series, The Wolf King.
Starz has acquired the rights to the beloved book series and is in active development on a show based The Wolf King, which will bring the books to the small screen with help from showrunner and executive producer Tanya Saracho.
“Coming back home to Starz with The Wolf King is a full-circle moment for me,” said Tanya Saracho, showrunner and executive producer, who previously partnered with the network for the acclaimed drama Vida. “This book has been my obsession since I first found it as an indie release over a year ago, and I’ve been lovingly championing it ever since. While Lauren Palphreyman’s beautiful book series is an exciting departure from the genre I’m typically known for, getting to adapt it for the network that housed Vida for three seasons just feels destined to be. I couldn’t be more ecstatic to finally share my love for this story with the world!”
The series centers around Aurora, a captive princess who is kidnapped by a brooding werewolf alpha and thrust into a bloodthirsty war. Per Starz, its adaptation of The Wolf King will follow Aurora as she uncovers her own wild strength after being plucked out of a world where she was treated as nothing more than a decorative pawn. Soon, Aurora finds herself caught not only in a lethal love triangle but also in the middle of a war between humankind and her feral captors and is forced to decide whether to return to a world that views her as nothing more than a prize to be won or to become the master of her own destiny.
As we’ve seen in the past when Starz has gotten its hands on a popular IP, the network has not only optioned The Wolf King, which is the first novel in the trilogy, but also The Night Prince and The Wolf Queen.
It’s not yet clear what the vision is for the show in terms of how it will approach adapting the three books over the course of multiple seasons. There is a chance that the show could adapt each book in a single season or that we might see the books broken up into multiple seasons in order to give the show a longer run and also allow for more breathing room in adapting the source material.
The show is certainly a much different vibe than Outlander, but the romantasy elements certainly seem perfectly suited for Starz. While the series finale of Outlander was a bit shaky, the overall adaptation of Diana Gabaldon's novels was incredibly well received by fans.
There is no doubt that The Wolf King is in capable hands, and it’s going to be exciting to see how the story comes together for a live-action series. With Starz looking to fast-track the project, we should begin to see the cast come together in the months ahead, but we won’t likely see the first season hit anytime soon.
Knowing Starz, they like to make sure to get things right and give the creative teams the time to craft a rich world for the characters to inhabit. Add in the supernatural aspects of the show, which will require VFX work, and we’re likely looking at a 2028 arrival at the earliest for the series. That’s likely for the best, as it gives Starz a new romantasy series to replace Outlander without the show coming so soon after that fans might compare the two and fail to give The Wolf King a fair shake.
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