Victoria Aveyard's Tempest TV Adaptation Announced As Peacock's Red Queen Series Stalls

Published Oct 17, 2026, 11:25 AM EDT

Paulina is a Contributor for ScreenRant, writing about books. After starting her career reporting breaking news as an undergrad, Paulina completed a Master of Arts in Journalism from NYU in 2026. She has spent the last four years writing about books and pop culture as a freelance journalist, including for Texas Monthly, The Daily Beast, and her Substack, Alienated Young Woman.

Fans of Red Queen, Victoria Aveyard’s beloved young adult fantasy series, have waited five years as the series’ promised TV adaptation remains stalled at Peacock, which announced the show all the way back in 2021. Fans of Aveyard's latest book series, however, have cause for celebration. Her pirate fantasy novel, Tempest, hit shelves on September 8 and is already being developed for TV. Chernin Entertainment, the production company behind recent films like Backrooms and shows like Chief of War and Man of Fire, acquired the rights in July, two months before Tempest was published.

Tempest—originally written as a 300,000-word standalone historical epic—is now the first half of Aveyard’s Lyrian Sea duology. Its sequel, Tyrant, is expected in September 2027. The series, which marks Aveyard’s debut in the adult fantasy genre, follows a noblewoman-turned-pirate queen forced to capture her former lover. Chernin Entertainment plans to adapt Tempest as a series, though no streamer has picked up the project just yet.

Though the news of Tempest's acquisition even before publication seems promising, a similar process occurred with Red Queen followed a similarly speedy timeline before production similarly stalled. The Red Queen adaptation was announced just three months after the first novel was published—11 years ago.

The Red Queen Adaptation Has Spent A Decade In Limbo

Set in a near-future dystopia where people are divided by blood, Red Queen follows a teen girl who must choose between joining society’s upper echelons and supporting a rebellion. Aveyard published the novel, her debut, to widespread acclaim in 2015. Since then, Aveyard has expanded Red Queen into a six-book series, publishing three sequels, two prequel novellas, and a short story collection. According to her website, she has no plans to continue the book series any further.

NBCUniversal acquired the rights to Red Queen shortly after its publication in 2015, and soon announced plans to adapt the novel as a feature film under Universal Pictures. Elizabeth Banks joined the project as director, producer, and cast member (though her role was never revealed), while Breaking Bad writer Gennifer Hutchinson was hired to develop the screenplay. Though Aveyard occasionally teased updates about the adaptations to her X followers over the next several years, Universal released no formal announcements about the film's progress.

Development eventually stalled until 2021, when NBCUniversal announced plans to adapt Red Queen into a TV series for Peacock, pivoting away from the film. Banks remained attached, while former Arrow showrunner Beth Schwartz was tapped to co-write the teleplay with Aveyard herself. Official updates on the project stopped after that.

Banks is still attached to Red Queen—or at least, she hasn't formally announced she's leaving the series. However, Peacock has yet to share any further cast announcements or plot details, much less a release timeline. On the FAQ section of her website, Aveyard responded to questions about whether Red Queen was still being adapted by writing, "Fingers crossed! This is a very slow process but I’m lucky to have a team as dedicated to the story as I am. We’re working on it as we speak!"

Still, though Red Queen may be stalled, it’s no surprise that Aveyard’s other novels have already made progress on the adaptation front. Her books have sold over 8 million copies in 43 languages, and all three of her series—Red Queen, the Lyrian Sea duology, and the Realm Breaker trilogy—have been New York Times Best Sellers.

The Tempest Adaptation Is Still A Long Way Off

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While Tempest fans now have something to look forward to, the series may not be any closer to actually hitting our screens than Red Queen. Much like that adaptation, the Tempest series is still in the early stages of development. Chernin Entertainment hasn’t announced a creative team, cast, or release date. Plot details are also unknown, including whether the series will cover the events of both novels in the Lyrian Sea trilogy, or Tempest alone.

Still, Aveyard remains optimistic about the Tempest adaptation. In a July Substack post, the author shared that she's been working on the adaptation "for months now" and wrote, "I absolutely love our team and the vision for TEMPEST on your screens," before promising "more news to come."