EXCLUSIVE: Prime Video is expanding its fantasy footprint with a green light for Rise of the Empress, an adaptation of Julie C. Dao’s book series of the same name. The Amazon MGM Studios TV series comes from writers, executive producers and co-showrunners Crystal Liu and James Wong (American Horror Story), executive producer Gemma Chan (The Creator) and two production companies, which have had first-look deals with Amazon MGM Studios, Viola Davis and Julius Tennon’s JuVee Productions (The Woman King) and Forest Whitaker and Nina Yang Bongiovi’s Significant Productions (Godfather of Harlem).
Rise of the Empress is described as “dark and mystical East Asian fantasy reimagining of The Evil Queen legend.” In it, a fantastical ancient Asian Empire is on the verge of destruction, torn apart by insidious rivalry. The only hope: a marriage between the handsome Heir to the Throne and a Princess from one of its feuding Kingdoms. As the competition to win the Prince’s hand heats up, chaos reigns when a dazzling peasant girl named Xifeng is thrown into the romance wars by a vengeful sorceress. In this fairytale of love and power, will Xifeng be able to save not only herself…but the whole Empire?
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“This story, led by an incredible female heroine, is an inspiring tale of strength and resilience,” said Nick Pepper, head, US SVOD TV development and series – wholly owned, Amazon MGM Studios. “Crystal, alongside the teams at JuVee and Significant, and Gemma, have done an amazing job capturing the magic created by Julie and we are thrilled to welcome James to help bring this brilliant project to life in a way that will resonate with our global Prime Video customers.”
Liu and Wong executive producers alongside JuVee Productions’ Davis, Tennon and head of television Andrew Wang, Significant Productions’ Whitaker and Yang Bongiovi as well as Chan for Amazon MGM Studios. Dao will serve as a co-executive producer. The eight-episode series is poised to film in Malaysia.
“I’m honored and so excited for this opportunity to bring Julie C. Dao’s extraordinary books to the screen — a sumptuous, spellbinding tale of intrigue, with a subversive heroine for the ages,” said Liu, noting that the TV adaptation will “build this epic, daring new world fueled by the wondrous, twisted things we do for love.”
Added JuVee’s Davis, Wang, and Tennon, “Julie C. Dao’s book series not only builds a fantastical world of opulence and mystery out of Asian history but centers a character that in her defiance to be what she is expected to be, finds the strength that may give her the power to change the world.”
The Rise of the Empress book series, which mixes fantasy and YA romance, includes the 2017 Forest of a Thousand Lanterns and the 2018 Kingdom of the Blazing Phoenix. They are joined by the 2019 followup Song of the Crimson Flower.
Prime Video’s fantasy TV offerings include series The Lord Of The Rings and Wheel of Time. The streamer also has a foothold into romantic YA fare with The Summer I Turned Pretty and the upcoming Off Campus.
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