Key takeaways
- Esther McGregor has been cast as Violet Sorrengail in the Fourth Wing television adaptation.
- Emilio Sakraya has been cast as Xaden Riorson in the Fourth Wing television adaptation.
- The Fourth Wing series is being made for Prime Video and is based on Rebecca Yarros's Empyrean novels.
- Michael B. Jordan and Lisa Joy were previously announced as executive producers on the series.
- The casting was first reported by Deadline.
Fourth Wing has found its Violet and its Xaden. Esther McGregor will play Violet Sorrengail and Emilio Sakraya will play Xaden Riorson in Prime Video's adaptation of Rebecca Yarros's Empyrean novels, according to Deadline. Two names, one very loud fandom, and a casting debate that started roughly four seconds later.
Who is playing Violet and Xaden?
Esther McGregor has been cast as Violet Sorrengail, the rider at the centre of Rebecca Yarros's Fourth Wing, in the forthcoming television adaptation. Emilio Sakraya has been cast opposite her as Xaden Riorson.
The casting was first reported by Deadline. No further cast members were named alongside the announcement of the two leads.
Who is making the Fourth Wing series?
The Fourth Wing adaptation is being made for Prime Video, with Michael B. Jordan and Lisa Joy previously announced as executive producers on the series.
Lisa Joy has promised to "deliver the series this fandom deserves" — a sentence that will be quoted back at her roughly every week between now and the premiere, and she surely knows it.
How are Empyrean readers taking the news?
Reaction to the Fourth Wing casting has been split, which is the only possible outcome when several million people have already cast the roles in their heads. The announcement drew tens of thousands of responses within days, ranging from delight at both leads to readers mourning the Violet and Xaden they had imagined.
The most sensible note sounded in the middle of it all: if Rebecca Yarros is on board with these choices, that is a reasonable place for a reader to start. At The Bookclub Boutique we tend to think a face you did not picture is the point of an adaptation, not the problem with one.
What should you read before the series arrives?
Fourth Wing is the first of Rebecca Yarros's Empyrean novels and the book the Prime Video series takes its name from. Violet Sorrengail and Xaden Riorson are its central pair, and the war college, the dragons and the politics are all waiting there first.
If you have been putting the series off, casting news is the traditional signal to stop putting it off. Screen adaptations have a way of spoiling themselves, and reading first is the only reliable defence.
Frequently asked questions
Has a premiere date been set for the Fourth Wing series?
No premiere date has been announced for the Fourth Wing adaptation. The news here is casting: Esther McGregor as Violet Sorrengail and Emilio Sakraya as Xaden Riorson, for a series in development at Prime Video with Michael B. Jordan and Lisa Joy executive producing. Scheduling details have not been released alongside the casting.
Source
Based on material from Deadline, via Entertainment Tonight, received October 20, 2026. Written up for The Bookclub Boutique.
