Prime Video's 'Fourth Wing' Series Casts Emilio Sakraya as Xaden, Esther McGregor as Violet

Prime Video has found the leads for its television adaptation of Rebecca Yarros' bestselling romantasy series, Fourth Wing. Emilio Sakraya will play Xaden Riorson, the powerful and ruthless wingleader who becomes both adversary and love interest to the protagonist, while Esther McGregor has been cast as Violet Sorrengail, the young woman forced into the brutal dragon rider academy at Basgiath War College. Amazon, the studio behind the series, declined to comment.

Sakraya, a 30-year-old German-born actor, brings a resume that includes the Peacock drama Those About to Die, the Netflix series Warrior Nun, and the German sci-fi series Tribes of Europa, according to E! News. He is also set to appear in the upcoming season of Netflix's One Piece in 2027. McGregor, 24, is known for starring in the Prime Video series We Were Liars and the 2024 film Babygirl.

She is the daughter of actor Ewan McGregor and began her career in modeling before transitioning to acting. The series is produced by Michael B. Jordan's Outlier Society, with Jordan serving as an executive producer alongside Amazon, Yarros, and Outlier president Elizabeth Raposo. Meredith Averill, who took over as showrunner in September 2025 after original showrunner Moira Walley-Beckett exited, is also an executive producer.

The project received a full series order from Amazon during an upfronts presentation in May 2026, nearly three years after the adaptation was first announced in October 2023. Fourth Wing, published in 2023, is the first book in Yarros' Empyrean series, which also includes Iron Flame and Onyx Storm. The novel follows 20-year-old Violet Sorrengail, who is ordered by her military general mother to join the deadly competition to become a dragon rider, where most candidates would kill her to better their own chances.

Xaden Riorson is described in the book's synopsis as "the most powerful and ruthless wingleader in the Riders Quadrant." The series does not yet have a premiere date.