My thoughts on the exciting A Court of Thorns and Roses TV adaptation

Unless you’re new around here (if you are, hey!) then you know about my love for Sarah J. Maas and A Court of Thorns and Roses in particular, so we don’t really need to go into that too much again here. But if you do want to fangirl with me then I am HERE for it.

If you’ve been on social media at all in the last 24 hours or are part of the fandom, you’ll already know that last night Sarah announced that A Court of Thorns and Roses is being adapted for TV! You can read all the info here, but it was actually leaked ahead of that post by Sarah’s husband Josh. Now at first I thought the leak was actually staged, but seeing how the official announcement post came swiftly after with a little loving dig at Josh, I’m starting to think maybe that was a genuine slip up. Either way, it turned out well for us fans!

So my initial reaction was HOLY FUCK, because of my love for the books and how much this series means to me. I feel like I’ve been waiting for something like this since I first read the books in 2016, and though we’ve had teasers of adaptations before this time i’s something concrete.

Though as such a big fan, I obviously have some concerns too, as any lover of fiction on its way to being adapted would do.

The Budget

The adaptation is being handled by Ron Moore, creator of Outlander, so we have to assume that there’s a fairly big budget. But unlike Outlander, A Court of Thorns and Roses is high fantasy with Fae, faeries and lots of different creatures. That means we’re going to need decent CGI, believable locations, quality costumes and lots more that will require some good funding. There are some top tier moments in these books that deserve the time, effort and money if it’s going to be successful and do the stories justice.

The Casting

So this is something I feel is going to hit the fandom hard. I think it’s super important to bear in mind that nobody is going to live up to the expectations that we all have in mind when it comes to how these characters look and behave. Not only do we have what we have built up in our imaginations, but we have had years worth of fan art and different ways that these characters have been perceived.

I have not only the hope that fans will be kind when it comes to casting choices, but that we also see the necessary representation and diversity we want in the creator’s choices, such as LGBTQIAP+ actors and characters, and actors of colour.

The Script

We all know how much a bad script can affect an otherwise fantastic show (ahem, like other book to TV adaptations), and this is another area I really hope the team get right. We don’t want any corny speeches, a lack of character development, info dumping or rushed scenes. I’m really crossing my fingers that the time is taken to put all of these things together so that we get the ACOTAR adaptation we all have been dreaming of.

Now those few concerns have been addressed, let’s get EXCITED!

I cannot wait to see the reactions of those who haven’t read the books as we get to the plot twists, the ships and the introduction of NEW CHARACTERS.

We’ll finally be able to physically see the scenes that we have been dreaming about since reading the books. Even just from the first book alone there are so many amazing moments to be brought to life. Five words: “I’ve been looking for you.”

Allllll of the promo content like teasers, trailers, casting news, ARGH. I always love the build up to Christmas as well as the day itself, so the next year or so is going to be very exciting.

I cannot wait to see the potential that could come from this show. I’m thinking new content, spin offs maybe, merchandise and more, and of course the success of this show could lead to the development of adaptations for Sarah’s other books! I know that Throne of Glass was in the pipeline for a long time but I would also love to see that, as many of us would.

Despite the fact there is a part of Sarah’s fandom that is just inherently toxic (more on this another time maybe), it’s going to be so good to see the rest of the community come together in excitement. I’ve already seen so much happiness and buzz online, understandable concerns aside, and I’m just really looking forward to seeing more of that.

Similarly to the above, I’m also just so happy for Sarah. We know that she is totally involved with this project which is amazing news for us, but imagine as an author getting to work on your book being adapted for TV?! That’s so cool and I imagine she’s absolutely living the dream right now.

I guess my last few pieces of excitement…

THE SEROTONIN. MY FAVOURITE SERIES IN FRONT OF MY EYESSSS. RHYS AND THE INNER CIRCLE! STARFALL. THEY WILL BE EVEN MORE LIKE REAL PEOPLE TO ME THAN THEY ALREADY ARE. ARGH I WISH I COULD BE COHERENT.

I haven’t read the Outlander books but enjoyed the TV series, so I do have really high hopes. Like I mentioned, Sarah is super involved and there is so much material for the creators to draw from already like the huge amount of fan art for example, so I’m feeling positive! Also fingers crossed for future series too because I’m going to need to see the events of A Court of Mist and Fury. Like I need to soak that into my eyeballs and brain.

So I hope this post made a little bit of sense but I just wanted to get my thoughts out of my head and share them with you all. I think the TL;DR is that I am SO excited to see my favourite books getting adapted for TV but understandably, there are some concerns purely because of how much I love it. I would love to hear your thoughts too!