Don't Worry, 'Fourth Wing' Fans: Michael B Jordan Says His Adaptation Won't Be 'Cheesy'

Michael B. Jordan is building an empire. Having landed his first Oscar nomination for Sinners and established himself as a director with the Creed sequels, he’s got a full slate ahead of him. He’s reuniting with regular collaborator Ryan Coogler for a film based on the Atlanta Public Schools cheating scandal. He’ll also be starring in and directing a remake of The Thomas Crown Affair and developing an HBO Max series set in the DC Universe.

Another much-anticipated project on his slate is Fourth Wing, based on the wildly popular romantasy series by Rebecca Yarros. If you’ve spent even five seconds on BookTok, you’ll know how beloved these books are. The most recent book in the saga, Onyx Storm, sold sold more than 2.7 million copies within the first week of release last year. It’s pretty standard romantasy stuff: our intrepid heroine joins the ruthless ranks of the dragon riders where she must deal with deadly training and a love triangle. Also there are dragons.

Jordan’s production company Outlier Society snapped up the rights with Amazon and are planning a lavish TV adaptation. Jordan told the BBC that he has big plans for the show.

He promises that the casting will be a mixture of new faces along with some well-known names, so that ‘When it’s done the right way, I think you can have a nice balance where casting won’t be distracting […] It allows people to, like, fall in love with the characters that they have imagined in their head without any baggage, with projecting their own feelings on certain casts.’ He also promised that ‘t’s nothing cheesy coming out. It ain’t no obvious choices. I think it’s going to be something that feels honest.’

At least he’s committed to the concept, although I think even the books’ most die-hard fans would have to admit that they are inherently a bit cheesy. It’s a melodramatic romance with dragons in the background. The books are popular because they were all but engineered by Yarros, who usually writes contemporary romances, to be a hit in the then-burgeoning romantasy market. It’s a veritable grab-bag of tropes. That’s why people like them! It’s also why it’ll probably be a very fun TV show if Jordan and his team are allowed to get loose with the material. There’s a lot of potential in its foundations once you get away from the checklist of genre expectations. And, again, dragons.

When asked by the BBC whether or not he’d star in the show himself, Jordan looked around before repeatedly replying: ‘I don’t know.’ I mean, I certainly wouldn’t complain about a shirtless MBJ riding a dragon, would you?