It’s happening, it’s happening!! On Oct. 15, both Deadline and The Hollywood Reporter announced that Prime Video has cast the two main characters of the upcoming Fourth Wing adaptation. According to the reports, Esther McGregor will be playing Violet and Emilio Sakraya will portray the role of Xaden. Prime Video declined to give comment to Her Campus on the casting announcement.
The Fourth Wing series is one of the most highly anticipated book-to-screen adaptations coming in the near future. Based off Rebecca Yarros’s Empyrean series of novels (including Fourth Wing, Iron Flame, Onyx Storm, and the recently released Threshing Day), the Fourth Wing series will follow Violet Sorrengail, a student at Basgiath War College who is forced to become a dragon rider. At the institution, Violet meets Xaden Riorson, one of the most powerful dragon riders. The two have a classic enemies-to-lovers story, with a lot of dragons and danger scattered throughout.
While many fans were anxiously awaiting casting news for the upcoming Prime Video Fourth Wing series, they also had a lot of thoughts on who should play the two main characters. Ever since Off Campus hit Prime Video in May 2026, fans thought Josh Heuston (aka Justin Kohl) would make a good Xaden — though Heuston was always quick to try and dodge the rumors. As for Violet, many fans were convinced Inde Navarrette would take the role. But after a lot of speculation, fans can rest, with reports of Esther McGregor as Violet and Emilio Sakraya as Xaden.
Once the reports dropped, fans immediately took to X/Twitter to give their reactions. Some were pumped about the casting, while others were bummed the stars weren’t the same as the fan casts they were hoping for. Either way, I think everyone is excited the show is one step closer to hitting our TV screens.
If McGregor looks familiar to you, it’s because she played Mirren in the Prime Video series We Were Liars. She’s also known for her roles in Babygirl and The Room Next Door. As for Sakraya, the German actor was in the 2024 Netflix film 60 Minutes and starred in the 2022 film Rheingold.
Despite this exciting casting news, fans still have a while to wait before Fourth Wing comes to Prime Video. It was announced the book series was being adapted by Amazon back in October 2023, with Michael B. Jordan’s production company Outlier Society executive producing. But considering this is the first casting news fans are getting and the show is still in pre-production, we’ll have to wait until the rest of the Fourth Wing roles are cast and the series goes into actual production before we know more about a release date. Regardless, I (and every other fan) will be waiting.