5 Romantasy Novels We Want To See Adapted For The Screen!

Fans of the Romantasy genre (a combination of romance + fantasy) recently took a hit when Hulu announced that their TV adaptation of A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas has been officially scrapped. This is surprising to many, since ACOTAR (as the series is known to fans) is one of the most popular series in print, with 38 million copies sold and counting. Romance and fantasy as genres, both separate and together, have also surged in popularity over the past several years, with a lot of credit given to the BookTok community on TikTok. There’s an audience ready and willing to see their favorite stories adapted to screen, so here are our 5 picks of Romantasy novels that need a big or small screen adaptation!

1. Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros

We would be remiss not to mention Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros. The first in a series released in May 2023, Fourth Wing achieved viral success on TikTok and was at the top of the New York Times Best-Seller List for 6 non-consecutive weeks that year. Fourth Wing follows Violet Sorrengail, the daughter of a military general who is forced to attend the Dragon Riders Quadrant. The students of the Riders Quadrant must bond with a dragon then train to ride them, eventually graduating to become riders for the military. Throughout this difficult and often deadly training, Violet learns more about her world and her family than she could have imagined, all while falling in love. Luckily for fans of this series, Fourth Wing is already in the works to be a TV Show by Amazon MGM Studios. The series has been in production since 2023, and there have been little to no updates since then other than the news that the original showrunner, "Anne With an E" creator Moira Walley-Beckett, left the production and that Amazon is looking at "WandaVision" and "Agatha All Along" creator Jac Schaeffer to replace her. 

2. The Inheritance Games by Jennifer Lynn Barnes

Aimed at young adults, The Inheritance Games follows Avery Kylie Grambs and the Hawthorne family. Avery learns that she is set to inherit an unfathomable fortune from recently deceased billionaire Tobias Hawthorne -- the thing is, though, she’s never even heard of the man until now. In order to accept this inheritance, Avery has to move into the Hawthorne estate with the rest of the recently dispossessed family. Every step is filled with riddles, puzzles, and codes, and around every corner is an angry Hawthorne getting in her way. In order to survive, Avery must learn how to play the game. The rights to this novel have also been sold to Amazon MGM Studios, but there is no information on an actual production in the works. This series would work perfectly as a movie franchise, following in the footsteps of young adult sagas before it. The dark academia setting and friend-or-foe romance gives me massive Knives Out vibes, and the success of franchises like Divergent and The Hunger Games is a perfect blueprint for the studio.

3. The Cruel Prince by Holly Black

I’m sure I’m not alone in stating that The Cruel Prince was my introduction to the Romantasy genre. It’s also many readers’ introduction to the popular enemies-to-lovers trope, which has taken bookshelves by storm in recent years. The Cruel Prince follows Jude, a mortal living in the High Court of Fae after being kidnapped at 7 years old, who is surrounded by enemies, since faeries largely despise mortals, so it’s a small miracle that she has survived that last decade. She becomes tied up in the political drama of young Prince Cardan, and it’s up to Jude to keep herself and her sisters, as well as all of Faerie, safe. This novel would be amazing as a TV show, similar in tone and visual style to Netflix’s "Shadow and Bone". The expansive world and spin-off duology, The Stolen Heir, means there’s several seasons of content available for longtime fans to sink their teeth into.

4. Powerless by Lauren Roberts

Powerless is another viral sensation boosted by the BookTok community. After a lethal plague has decimated a society, those lucky enough to be alive and reap the benefits are gifted with magic. These people become the Elites, while those without powers remain the Ordinaries. The King has decreed that Ordinaries must be banished to slums in order to preserve his Elite society. This is where we find Paedyn, an Ordinary who is posing as an Elite, using her honed observational abilities to impersonate a psychic. The story is full of magic, romance, and political intrigue, and I would love to see it adapted as a movie.

5. Bride by Ali Hazelwood

Move over Twilight, a new paranormal romance is in town. While it’s not strictly a Romantasy, I think this dark vampire vs. werewolf romance deserves to be on the list. The novel follows vampyre bride Misery Lark as she marries alpha werewolf Lowe Moreland in a political alliance. However, Misery has agreed to this marriage of convenience for more than political gain. Misery is searching for her best friend, Serena, who has been missing for a month, and Misery has reason to believe that Lowe is somehow responsible for her disappearance. This dark and sexy romance is full of intimacy and romantic tension, alongside the tension of political intrigue and the mystery left by Serena. This story is perfectly suited to a blockbuster romance with a Summer release – think a cross between Twilight and 50 Shades of Grey. I know I’d be at the midnight premiere!