A fantastical ancient Asian Empire is on the verge of destruction, torn apart by insidious rivalry. The only hope: a marriage between the handsome heir to the throne and a princess from one of its feuding kingdoms. As the competition to win the prince's hand heats up, chaos reigns when a dazzling peasant girl named Xifeng is thrown into the romance wars by a vengeful sorceress. In this fairytale of love and power, will Xifeng be able to save not only herself... but the whole Empire?
Crystal Liu and James Wong developed the drama. They will executive produce with Viola Davis, Forest Whitaker, Gemma Chan, Julius Tennon, Nina Yang Bongiovi and Andrew Wang. Dao will serve as a co-executive producer. Amazon MGM Studios, JuVee Productions and Significant Productions will produce.
"This story, led by an incredible female heroine, is an inspiring tale of strength and resilience," said Nick Pepper, Head of US SVOD TV Development and Wholly Owned Series, Amazon MGM Studios. "Crystal, alongside the teams at JuVee and Significant, and Gemma, have done an amazing job capturing the magic created by Julie and we are thrilled to welcome James to help bring this brilliant project to life in a way that will resonate with our global Prime Video customers."
"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," added Liu. "Feeling beyond grateful to be embarking on this journey with the legendary James Wong and our spectacular producers JuVee, Significant, and Gemma Chan. And I couldn't ask for a more perfect partner than Amazon to build this epic, daring new world fueled by the wondrous, twisted things we do for love."
