Sarah J. Maas’s A Court of Thorns and Roses books have consistently been some of the most popular books out there for over five years. So, what’s the holdup with a TV show? While there were initially plans with Hulu, they fell through about a year ago, and since then, we've been wondering what’s going on with it. Now that Margot Robbie has been caught talking about her love for the series again, we need to talk about it.
Margot Robbie Is Properly Obsessed With Sarah J. Maas' Books
Margot Robbie just reminded us just how much she’s into both the author’s famous series during an interview with Bustle from back when she was promoting Wuthering Heights with writer/director Emerald Fennell. Here’s what she said:
ACOTAR I read three times through before I moved on to Throne of Glass, which is the same author, but I still couldn’t… I have trouble letting go of things I like.
In the interview, she called herself a “serial re-reader” who found herself between the pages of the Court of Thorns and Roses and Throne of Glass books over and over, and she found it difficult to put them away and move on. And, for context, if you aren’t too familiar, there are five ACOTAR books with more confirmed to be on the way and eight Throne of Glass novels. So, of course, that has us perking up since Robbie has a great track record as a producer.
In addition to Robbie being super into Maas’s work, she’s also become acquainted with the author after famously having coffee with her in New York City in 2024. When the Barbie star and producer was asked by Harper’s Bazaar about their relationship, she said this:
I’m beyond obsessed. She’s the coolest. You know she’s in her 30s? She’s also a genius… We’ve become friends. It’s like, oh, you’re like all my girls—I love it.
At the time, Robbie said “the world needs that” when asked about a TV adaptation of ACOTAR, and she’d “see what [she] can do” as a producer when it comes to making it one of the upcoming book-to-screen adaptations. But Margot Robbie and her production company are somehow not attached to the series? C'mon, she would be perfect to help make the show amazing.
The Latest From Sarah J. Maas About Adapting ACOTAR
What may explain the slowdown of the ACOTAR TV show is Maas’s recent comments from early March about where she’s at with them. She said that she has the rights back to “everything” now after Disney previously had them, and her focus right now is on delivering the next books she’s announced. She also shared this:
I look at any movie/TV adaptation as another facet of the world I have created, and it’s something that I want to be in charge of. Like, I want to be learning everything I can. I’m like a type A, control freak a little bit, but I want to know everything about how it gets made, not because of that control, but because I love movies, I love TV.
So, while Robbie could very well be on her list mentally to collaborate with, she’s intentionally deciding not to place her attention on a TV show adaptation at this time. As she continued:
I want to be a part of that and I want to see everything adapted the way I envision it, and the way I know fans want it. And, I don’t ever want to hear ‘Oh, we need to change this to appeal to like XYZ’s demographic. I’m like ‘No, that’s not how you make art.’ That’s not how I create my stories. So when I do it, it’s going to be me, and I will dedicate everything that I have to making it right.
While it definitely is a bummer that we’re not getting an ACOTAR TV show already, Hulu recently scrapping the Buffy the Vampire Slayer TV show after a pilot filmed definitely has us thinking that maybe it just wasn’t meant to be yet. While we wish we had an ACOTAR show to binge right now, we love to see both Margot Robbie and Sarah J. Maas’s love for the material, and hopefully they’ll work together on it when the time does come.
