5 Book Adaptations We'd Love To See Stem From Margot Robbie And Sarah J. Maas' Coffee Date
Many of us were swept into a frenzy recently when X (formerly known as Twitter) user @West4thCapital shared a photo on February 27 of Margot Robbie having lunch with none other than author Sarah J. Maas. "Meeting another investor for coffee and ... suddenly Margot Robbie appeared," they captioned the upload, also including a snap of the two women chatting over coffee with Robbie sporting a big smile on her face.
While we don't know what the two were chatting about, we want to believe the two may well have been discussing turning one of Maas' books into a movie with Robbie at the helm. Hey, after the crazy success of "Barbie" – which Robbie both co-produced and starred in – that had us wearing and buying everything pink, we can dream, right? But that got us thinking, if the twosome's meeting really was more about business than pleasure, then which of Mass' literary collection would we most like to see these two strong women team up on? And, well, we have a few ideas we think are pretty solid.
The main Throne of Glass series
Let's start with the most obvious. The "Throne of Glass" series is what Sarah J. Maas is best known for, and there are just so many ways this franchise could go if it made its way onto the big screen. The series is made up of "Throne of Glass," "Crown of Midnight," "Heir of Fire," "Queen of Shadows," "Empire of Storms," "Tower of Dawn," and "Kingdom of Ash." And, as anyone who's read this hugely successful series will already know, there's plenty of scope here for Margot Robbie to bring this fantasy series to life. The collection tells the story of a young assassin named Celaena Sardothien who lives in a world controlled by the less than empathetic King of Adarlan. Throughout the books, we see Celaena deal with the challenges of assassin life and growing up, plus the terrible dangers of unraveling a mysterious conspiracy.
Though main character Celaena is an older teenager in the "Throne of Glass" series, we could potentially see the ever-youthful Robbie playing the lead role with a little bit of change up to the original story. If not, she could instead take on producing (or even directing!) duties with another superstar on-board to portray the coming-of-age aspect of the books more accurately. Someone like Millie Bobby Brown (in a blonde wig) or even "Mean Girls" star Renee Rapp could seriously rock this role. We know though that Robbie would really thrive telling this story from a female perspective.
The Assassin's Blade prequel
If Robbie isn't ready to commit to the massive "Throne of Glass" series, she could instead adapt the prequel series "The Assassin's Blade" instead. This smaller collection, which includes stories titled "The Assassin and the Pirate Lord," "The Assassin and the Desert," "The Assassin and the Underworld," "The Assassin and the Empire," and "The Assassin and the Healer," tells Celaena Sardothien's story before "Throne of Glass," about how she came to be the one of the most feared hitwomen in the Kingdom of Adarlan.
As Sarah J. Maas is no doubt protective over her work, we're pretty sure she'd probably turn to someone like Robbie to adapt her books into a TV show or movie. As Robbie explained to Deadline in January, producing is about so much more to her than just the money. "Producing is such a nebulous job, and everyone has different priorities. I have some producer friends who just want to get things going because for them it's all about collect the fees, collect the fees, collect the fees," she shared. "I suppose it depends what the setup is for success, really. For us, it's definitely quality over quantity, and making sure we maintain a level of quality in anything we do." And we love to hear it.
The A Court of Thorns and Roses series
If there's one thing to know about "A Court of Thorns And Roses," it's how much readers and critics have praised the novel's incredible world building. It's set in the massive fictional world of Prythian, which contains it's own court systems, laws, and language. To adapt it into a film would require someone with as large of an imagination as Maas herself, and there's truly no better person for that than Robbie. The actress has experience producing a film with its own world in "Barbie," which fully immersed viewers in Barbieland. She even did an Architectural Digest interview inside the Barbie Dream House.
Similar to the "Throne of Glass" series, the protagonist, Feyre Archeron, is only a teenager when the story begins. So we'd probably expect Robbie to either serve as a producer only through her and her husband Tom Ackerley's company, LuckyChap Entertainment, or take on a more minor role. Even then, though, we could totally see Robbie bringing to life the story's romantic storylines as well as the Prythian and faerie courts.
It's worth noting though "A Court of Thorns and Roses" is already in the works to become a TV series, but its future is looking unclear. Variety reported in February it's not currently in active development at Hulu. So could Robbie bring it to the big screen instead? Or could she even be in talks to helm it via the streaming service? LuckyChap Entertainment does have history with Hulu via the series "Dollface" and also produced "Maid" on Netflix, after all...
Crescent City
It's not hard for us to envision Robbie portraying "Crescent City" heroine Bryce Quinlan. Described by readers as strong-willed and independent, the character reminds us of other strong-minded women Margot has played — from Tonya Harding to Jane Clayton and Harley Quinn. Plus, with how often Robbie herself has spoken out against Hollywood's demands for women in the industry to change their appearance for a role, she seems just perfect a story about a woman speaking her mind.
In "House of Earth and Blood," "House of Sky and Breath," and "House of Flame and Shadow," the three existing books in the series, plus an as yet untitled book to be released, we follow Quinlan as she deals with life on the planet of Midgard being half-human and half-fae. In the first book, we see her investigating the murder of her friend and falling in love. In the latter books, she then finds herself having to defend her planet. And we think Robbie could really pull this one-off. That's because we already know that Robbie has a number of fantasy books on her reading list, as her reading recs include the likes of J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter series and even "The Hobbit" by J.R.R. Tolkien.
Catwoman: Soulstealer
Margot Robbie has dipped her toe into the superhero genre before as "Harley Quinn" in the likes of "Suicide Squad," "Birds of Prey," and "The Suicide Squad." And let's not look over the fact that those movies were all part of the DC Universe, just like Sarah J. Maas's "Catwoman: Soulstealer" novel, which just so happens to also feature, wait for it, the character of Harley Quinn! Yep. Connection? Possibly!
Of course, if Robbie was potentially in talks to adapt this book for either TV or a movie, we'd expect to her to reprise her role as "Harley Quinn" rather than portray Gotham City resident Selina Kyle (aka "Catwoman"). But there's no doubting that having her on board would really add some authenticity to any potential adaptation.
Robbie has admitted, though that she never intended to gate keep the character of "Harley Quinn," so there's a chance she may prefer to only serve as a producer. "I always wanted Harley to be a character that would get passed on to other actresses to play, the way there are so many iconic male characters," she told Variety in January. "Harley's so fun and can go in so many different directions. You put her in someone else's hands, and it's like, 'What are they going to do with her?" she said. Sure, it's a long shot that anything will come of this book seeing as there's already been various iterations of the Catwoman character over the years, but we can still dream.