Esther McGregor and Emilio Sakraya are set to lead the Fourth Wing series at Prime Video, according to The Hollywood Reporter. The report puts faces to the two characters at the center of Rebecca Yarros’s bestselling novel, which is the source material for the show.

According to the report, McGregor will portray protagonist Violet Sorrengail, while Sakraya will take on the role of Xaden Riorson. The Hollywood Reporter notes that McGregor most recently starred in the Prime Video series We Were Liars. Sakraya’s recent credits include Those About to Die and season three of Netflix’s One Piece. Prime Video declined to comment on the casting.

Who are Violet and Xaden, and why do their roles matter?

Violet is 20 years old, and her plans for a quiet life fall apart when her mother, a military general, orders her to join the brutal Basgiath War College. She becomes one of several hundred candidates competing to become dragon riders. With far fewer dragons willing to bond than cadets, the competition is cutthroat, and the book’s synopsis says some rivals resent her simply for being her mother’s daughter.

Xaden Riorson is described in the book’s synopsis as the most powerful and ruthless wingleader in the Riders Quadrant, and the two characters start out as enemies. The story also follows their romance as they become lovers. Meanwhile, the war outside grows deadlier, the kingdom’s protective wards are failing, and Violet begins to suspect that leadership is hiding a terrible secret.

The source material is The Fourth Wing, Yarros’s 2023 New York Times bestseller. It is part of her Empyrean book series, which also includes Iron Flame (2023) and Onyx Storm (2025). Yarros has planned a five-book series and has teased that she is writing the fourth book. Titles and release dates for the fourth and fifth books have not been announced.

The screen project has moved through several hands. Amazon MGM acquired rights to the series in 2023 and began developing it with Michael B. Jordan’s Outlier Society, which has an overall series deal with the studio. Meredith Averill, co-creator of Locke & Key, took over as showrunner in September 2025 after the original showrunner, Moira Walley-Beckett, exited.

Averill is executive producing alongside Jordan and Elizabeth Raposo for Outlier Society. Yarros, Jonah Nolan, Lisa Joy and Athena Wickham of Kilter Films, and Liz Pelletier and Sherryl Clark of Premeditated, a sister company of Entangled Publishing, are also executive producers. Stefano Agosto, executive vice president of television at Outlier Society, is a co-executive producer.

Prime Video ordered the series in May. The report does not include a premiere date or a production schedule, so those details remain open for now.

Quick answers

Who is playing Violet in the Fourth Wing series?
Esther McGregor will portray protagonist Violet Sorrengail, according to The Hollywood Reporter. Prime Video declined to comment on the casting.

Who is playing Xaden in the Fourth Wing series?
Emilio Sakraya will take on the role of Xaden Riorson, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

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Source: The Hollywood Reporter