Though things didn’t work out the last time Emma Watson was set to collaborate with a former Harry Potter team member, producer David Heyman is hoping he’ll have more luck with the actress on **Queen Of The Tearling.
Watson is attached to star in the adaptation of Erika Johansen’s planned fantasy trilogy about 19-year-old princess heroine Kelsea Glynn. Set three centuries after a small portion of the human race has populated a landmass that mysteriously emerged in the wake of an environmental catastrophe, the story follows Glynn as she tries to reclaim her deceased mother’s throne and redeem her kingdom, the Tearling, from forces of corruption and dark magic of The Red Queen, the sorceress-tyrant of the neighbouring country, Mortmesn.
Described as a female-orientated Game Of Thrones that also features a strong coming-of-age element, we’re just hoping this means Watson won’t lose her head two thirds of the way into the first film.
Johansen, who was apparently inspired jointly by a 2007 dream and a speech Barack Obama gave a few days later, scored a hefty publishing deal earlier this year, and Heyman had Warner Bros. nab the film rights. The first book is set to land next year. Given the success of the Potter films, the studio must be crossing its fingers for big things from this one.
Now, of course, comes the task of finding a writer to adapt the book and a director to launch the thing. For the former, it might be worth giving fellow Potter alum Steve Kloves a call: Hermione was always his favourite character (as he told us here) so he might be willing to re-team with Watson and Heyman.
Watson, meanwhile, is back on our screens in apocalyptic comedy This Is The End (due June 28) and Sofia Coppola's Hollywood theft pic The Bling Rin****g, which arrives here on July 5. Following those two, Darren Aronofsky’s Noah will sail in on March 28 next year.