As the battle for the prince's hand heats up, chaos reigns when a stunning peasant girl named Xifeng is thrown into the romance wars by a vengeful sorceress. In this fairy tale of love and power, will Xifeng be able to save not only himself... but the entire Empire?
The Amazon MGM Studios television series comes from writers, executive producers and co-showrunners Crystal Liu and James Wong, executive producer Gemma Chan (pictured, right) and two production companies that have first-look deals with Amazon MGM Studios, JuVee Productions of Viola Davis and Julius Tennon and Significant Productions by Forest Whitaker and Nina Yang Bongiovi.
“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.”
The eight-episode series will be shot in Malaysia.
A mix of fantasy and young adult romance, the Rise of the Empress book series includes the 2017 book Forest of a Thousand Lanterns and 2018's Kingdom of the Blazing Phoenix. They are joined by the 2019 follow-up Song of the Crimson Flower.
Prime Video's fantasy offering includes the series The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power and The Wheel of Time. The streamer also has a foothold in romantic young adult fare with The Summer I Turned Pretty and the upcoming Off Campus.
