Red Queen series set for Peacock; Elizabeth Banks to direct, star

Last Updated on August 2, 2021

Elizabeth Banks is a woman on a mission in Hollywood. With several projects already in the works, it's been announced that she'll direct and star in an adaptation of author Victoria Aveyard's Red Queen for Peacock. In addition to helming the potential series and playing a major supporting role, Banks will executive produce alongside Max Handleman through Brownstone Productions.

Red Queen is officially described as a sweeping tale of power, intrigue, and betrayal, perfect for fans of George R.R. Martin’s Game of Thrones series. Mare Barrow's world is divided by blood—those with common, Red blood serve the Silver-blooded elite, who are gifted with superhuman abilities. Mare is a Red, scraping by as a thief in a poor, rural village until a twist of fate throws her in front of the Silver court. Before the king, princes, and all the nobles, she discovers she has an ability of her own. To cover up this impossibility, the king forces her to play the role of a lost Silver princess and betroths her to one of his own sons. As Mare is drawn further into the Silver world, she risks everything and uses her new position to help the Scarlet Guard—a growing Red rebellion—even as her heart tugs her in an impossible direction. One wrong move can lead to her death, but in the dangerous game she plays, the only certainty is betrayal.

The adaptation is being written by former Arrow showrunner Beth Schwartz and Aveyard. The project hails from Warner Bros. TV where Brownstone and Schwartz are under overall deals. Schwartz will also executive produce, as well as Aveyard, with Brownstone’s Dannah Shinder co-executive producing.

Red Queen was published in 2015. It was so successful that Aveyard published three sequels to the original story titles Glass Sword, King's Cage, and War Storm. There's also a series of spin-offs that you can check out as well.

Aside from Red Queen, Banks is in the midst of filming Call Jane for Phyllis Nagy. In the film, a married woman with an unwanted pregnancy lives in a time in American where she can't get a legal abortion and works with a group of suburban women to find help. The film also stars Kate Mara, Sigourney Weaver, Chris Messina, and Wunmi Mosaku. Additionally, Banks is set to star as Mary Neiswender for Taylor Hackford's Signal Hill. The drama revolves around lawyer Johnnie Cochran taking on a police brutality case in 1981 in which a young college student dies under suspicious circumstances in police custody.