Fans of one of the best-selling fantasy series in recent memory are going to have to wait a little longer for an adaptation. Four years after news first broke that Ron Moore was partnering with Hulu and 20th Television to adapt Sarah J. Maas’s A Court of Thorns and Roses, Deadline is reporting that the adaptation is officially dead.
Rumors about the adaptation not happening first started to swirl roughly a year ago, and became even stronger after Moore left his overall deal with 20th Television to work with Sony Pictures Television. There was talk of Disney moving the project forward with another writer, but now, it seems that they have decided to abandon it altogether.
The first novel in the series is a loose retelling of Beauty and the Beast, following a huntress who agrees to travel to a magical realm with a faerie lord in exchange for the return of her family. Eventually, she falls for him and begins to fight on his behalf against forces that would destroy his realm as well as her own.
The book series has already produced four sequels, the most recent of which was published in 2021. An adaptation of the series would have been a big deal at Hulu, and would have allowed it to compete with shows like House of the Dragon and Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power that are being produced by competitors. Fantasy series can be incredibly expensive, though, and if Disney did not have confidence that the project would ultimately be a success, it makes sense that they decided to pull the plug rather than risk the expense.
