I’m just going to say it—I do not want a ‘Fourth Wing’ TV show
I’m willing to bet this is a controversial opinion, but I do not want Prime Video—or any streamer, really—to make a Fourth Wing TV show.
Logically speaking, I understand why Amazon is so intent on adapting Fourth Wing. Rebecca Yarros’ Empyrean books are some of the best-selling adult fantasy novels of all time, and they are beloved for a reason. I won’t sit here and tell you they are my all-time favorite books. That’s simply not true, but I have mostly enjoyed reading them (I’m still waiting for my airport paperback version of Onyx Storm to be delivered when my parents visit at the end of this month. My books need to match, okay? It’s a Thing). Xaden is hot, Violet is a reasonably solid FMC, and I’d honestly read a book that’s only about Tairn. I do love a good dragon.
With all the casting rumors swirling around on BookTok, Instagram, and even some major outlets getting in on the guessing game, the continued development of Prime Video’s Fourth Wing TV show feels inevitable. Moira Walley-Beckett (Breaking Bad, Anne with an E) is set to be the showrunner, and while I’ve never watched Breaking Bad—I know, I know—I did very much enjoy Anne with an E. Yarros has recently voiced her enthusiasm for the early scripts and promised that Xaden will be played by a POC (as he should be, no matter what the majority of fan art being circulated on the internet would have you believe). Prime has experience with adapting major fantasy tomes—with varying degrees of success, it has to be said—so we can also expect the show to have a certain cinematic quality.
And yet.
Adapting fantasy is hard, okay?
I’ve previously written about what a shame it is that most, if not all, major high fantasy stories are being adapted for the small screen rather than the big screen. Streamers and high-profile networks are picking up book rights left and right. Netflix has Shadow & Bone, The Witcher, and Narnia. HBO has Westeros and is, for some reason, making a Harry Potter show. Disney+ has Percy Jackson and (had) Willow. Prime has The Wheel of Time and Middle-earth. Some of those shows are good. Some have even been great. A few have also been … middling.
Fantasy is a hard genre to adapt. Peter Jackson’s The Lord of the Rings trilogy is an outlier—a cinematic masterpiece that, even with nearly 12 hours of run-time (everyone should always watch the extended editions) was still forced to cut significant chunks of J.R.R. Tolkien’s seminal work. Fourth Wing isn’t nearly as dense as LOTR, though (narratively speaking, at least), so streaming’s eight to 10-episode structure should work, right? I’m not convinced it will, however.
Some fan-favorite scenes will be glossed over. Training montages will be overextended. Key plot points will be skipped entirely. I’m not saying a Fourth Wing adaptation can’t possibly work, I’m saying the likelihood of it ever matching up to people’s expectations is, unfortunately, very small. Look at what happened to Shadow & Bone. Netflix tried to do too much, too soon, and what should have been a slam dunk was canceled after season 2.
Some books are meant to remain books
As I thought about it, though, I realized that I don’t want Fourth Wing to be adapted as a movie, either. I don’t want it to be adapted, period. Like I said, it’s not because it’s my favorite book of all time and I won’t be able to deal with the disappointment if it doesn’t end up being what I’ve pictured in my head. I can live with that. I think it’s more that I’m rebelling against the idea that every majorly successful fantasy—and now, romantasy—series needs to be adapted at all.
These stories became popular as books for a reason. Reading a novel is an entirely different experience from watching a show or a movie. I’d argue it’s more immersive—you, as the reader, fill in the blanks and drop yourself into a character’s world, especially if it’s written in first-person (I don’t mind reading first or third, though I know many readers have a preference). Clearly, Yarros has done something right, since the Empyrean series has connected with so many readers across the globe. Why not let that be Violet and Xaden’s legacy?
Business-wise, it makes sense. Book adaptations already have a built-in audience. I get it, and a brand-new adaptation is still, in most cases, preferable to an unnecessary Hollywood reboot, remake, or sequel. On the other hand, movie and TV adaptations of popular novels essentially force the reader to accept that version of the story world. The narrative’s iconography will forever be tied to what’s shown on screen, eclipsing what the reader might have imagined for themselves.
Fourth Wing isn’t necessarily an unadaptable story (plenty of adult fantasy stories out there are much more complicated), but you know what? Some books should remain books. That doesn’t make them any less popular, or the author’s accomplishments less impressive. Maybe it can just mean that the novel is enough. People love this story already. Why turn it into something it’s not?
This is an opinion piece. The views expressed in this article are those of just the author.
