‘A Court of Thorns and Roses’ TV series loses Ronald D. Moore

A Court of Thorns and Roses fans, some thorny news about the TV adaptation is coming out of Comic-Con 2024 — Ronald D. Moore has exited the project as showrunner.

While stopping by the Entertainment Weekly video suite on Thursday to discuss the 20th anniversary of Battlestar Galactica along with Mary McDonnell, Ronald D. Moore said he’s left the highly anticipated project.

“I can tell you I am no longer working on it because I left Disney and I’ve returned to Sony,” Moore tells EW. “And ACOTAR was a project that was at 20th Century Television and Disney.”

Moore didn’t have any other updates to offer about Hulu’s TV adaptation of Sarah J. Maas’ romantasy book series. “I had worked on it for a while but it was still in development, as they say, when I left,” he says. “So I don’t know what the status is anymore.”

Sources close to the situation confirmed to EW in February that the long-delayed project had not been scrapped and was still in development after TVLine.com reported the show was dead. Variety originally reported that the news was accurate, but later recanted that confirmation.

The highly popular book series began with Maas’ titular first novel released in 2015, followed by A Court of Mist and Fury, A Court of Wings and Ruin, novella A Court of Frost and Starlight, and A Court of Silver Flames. The romance/fantasy story centers on three human sisters — Feyre, Nesta, and Elain Archeron — who are thrown into the magical and deadly world of Prythian after Feyre murders a faerie wolf in the woods. As a result, she’s swept into the high-stakes political workings of the different High Lords of the land, falls in love, and works to stop a war that could annihilate all her fellow humans.

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Hulu’s TV show adaptation was first announced in 2021 with Outlander‘s Moore as showrunner. In a since-deleted Instagram post, Maas announced that she and Moore would work together to adapt her novels.

“So, it’s official (and thank you, Josh, for accidentally spilling the beans!): Ron Moore (creator of Outlander and one of my creative idols) and I will co-adapt ACOTAR as a tv show for Hulu!” Maas wrote. “I’m currently hard at work writing the pilot with Ron (!!!!!), and while there is SO much more news to share with you guys about bringing this series to life, it just feels so great to finally be able to talk about this! Stay tuned for more details!!”

Maas has also written two other book series: The completed Throne of Glass books as well as the ongoing Crescent City novels, of which the latest, House of Flame and Shadow, was released in January and featured ACOTAR characters in a highly-anticipated crossover event.

Watch EW’s Comic-Con livestream above.