Fourth Wing Has Found Its Violet and Xaden

One of the most talked-about fantasy adaptations has finally found its Violet Sorrengail and Xaden Riorson.

Esther McGregor and Emilio Sakraya will officially take on the lead roles in Prime Video’s Fourth Wing, based on Rebecca Yarros’ bestselling Empyrean series. After months of fan casting, rumors, and speculation, Amazon MGM Studios has confirmed the two actors.

And this is definitely a casting choice that will be watched closely. Because Violet and Xaden are not simply the central characters in a hugely successful romantic fantasy series. They are one of the main reasons so many readers keep returning to the world of Basgiath, dragons, and deadly trials.

Who Is Violet Sorrengail?

At the beginning of Fourth Wing, 20-year-old Violet has spent her entire life preparing for one thing – becoming a scribe and recording other people’s adventures. Her mother, General Lilith Sorrengail, has very different plans. She sends Violet into the Riders Quadrant at Basgiath War College, where hundreds of candidates compete for the chance to bond with a dragon and where failure very often means death.

Violet does not have the kind of physique usually associated with a place like this. Her body is more fragile, her joints are easily injured, and physical strength is certainly not her greatest advantage.

What she does have is intelligence and an extraordinary instinct for survival. That combination is one of the reasons the character works so well. In our review of Fourth Wing, we admitted that at first the story looked like yet another fantasy about an outsider who would eventually become a hero. The plot does, after all, use plenty of familiar elements.

But Rebecca Yarros tells it at such a relentless pace that after the first few dozen pages, the question is no longer whether the story is completely original. It is whether Violet will survive the next chapter.

Esther McGregor Enters Basgiath

The role goes to 24-year-old Esther McGregor, who already has some history with Prime Video.

In 2025, she played Mirren Sinclair in the adaptation of We Were Liars. Before that, she appeared in Babygirl alongside Nicole Kidman, Pedro Almodóvar’s The Room Next Door with Julianne Moore and Tilda Swinton, as well as the series High School.

And yes, the surname is familiar. Esther is the daughter of Ewan McGregor and production designer Eve Mavrakis. But over the past few years, she has been steadily building an acting career of her own, and Violet will undoubtedly be the most significant role of her career so far.

Rebecca Yarros has said that the team conducted a global search for the two characters before choosing McGregor and Sakraya, describing the prospect of seeing them step into the roles of Violet and Xaden as incredibly exciting.

Casting Violet is particularly important.Readers do not connect with her because she suddenly turns out to be the strongest person in the room. Quite the opposite. A large part of the story works because there is a constant sense that, physically, she has absolutely no business being there.

And Who Will Play Xaden?

Opposite her will be Emilio Sakraya. The 30-year-old German actor has a considerably longer filmography and is already familiar to international audiences from Warrior Nun, Tribes of Europa, and the film Rheingold.

And here comes one detail that feels almost tailor-made for the casting of Xaden. Sakraya has trained in karate, kung fu, and parkour since childhood and is a two-time German champion in full-contact karate.

So the physical side of Xaden Riorson is unlikely to be the biggest challenge. The more difficult task is everything else. Xaden is a third-year rider at Basgiath, an exceptionally dangerous cadet, and the son of the man who led a rebellion against Navarre. He has every reason to hate the Sorrengail family – including Violet’s mother. Their relationship begins roughly from the position of: “It would probably be better if one of us were dead.” As you might expect, they do not exactly stay there.

The Dragons Are Still to Come

The series already has a serious team behind it. Meredith Averill, who worked on The Haunting of Hill House and Locke & Key, is serving as showrunner and executive producer. Lisa Joy, one of the creators behind Westworld, will direct the pilot episode. Rebecca Yarros is also among the executive producers.

Yarros has shared the broader five-book arc of the series with the production team, allowing the television adaptation to be planned with an eye toward the story beyond the first novel.

Prime Video has not yet announced a release date. But at least two of the biggest questions surrounding the adaptation now have answers – we know who will cross the Parapet, we know who will be waiting on the other side. Now perhaps the hardest task of the entire series remains: finding dragons that won’t disappoint several million readers.