In the entertainment sector, adapting best-selling novels has always been a staple. Disney has recently made an effort to provide updated and improved adaptations of previously adapted works, and the company is now working on yet another such film. According to Deadline, Disney+ is developing a series based on Melissa de la Cruz’s The Ring and the Crown, a best-selling fantasy novel for young adults. Setting us back in an Arthurian world where magic is alive and well, the show will force its characters to choose between duty and happiness. Princess Marie-Victoria, as the heir to the world’s greatest kingdom, is in the difficult position of having to make a political marriage in which the interests of the empire take precedence over her own.
Aelwyn Myrddyn, the princess’s best friend and the bastard daughter of Merlin, must overcome obstacles on her path to the throne. While Marie-Victoria, Aelwyn, and others are busy making moves to gain political power, true love, and their futures behind the scenes during the Annual London Season, where aristocratic families from over the world converge to display their money and magic at lavish parties. The Isle of the Lost, another novel by de la Cruz, was adapted as a prelude to the Disney Channel original film Descendants, thus this isn’t her first time collaborating with Disney.
However, when asked about this new collaboration, de la Cruz expressed her delight at the prospect of working with Disney again. This is the assertion: I can’t express how thrilled I am to be working with Disney again. One of my best books, The Ring and the Crown, was inspired by two of my all-time favourites: Tolstoy’s War and Peace and the Arthurian legends. I’m excited to see what they do with it in the hands of such a talented group of people and a top-notch production company and streaming service.
To avoid repeating the same error made by another successful adaptation a decade earlier, Disney plans to work closely with de la Cruz for the remainder of the series development. The demigods of Olympus from Rick Riordan’s books were adapted into a movie by 20th Century Fox without Riordan’s participation. But Riordan is helping to reimagine the series in his new book, Percy Jackson and the Olympians. The show’s creators are Aaron Harberts and Gretchen J. Berg (Our Kind of People). Harberts, Berg, de la Cruz, Ellen Goldsmith-Vein, Jeremy Bell, DJ Goldberg, and Richard Abate of 3 Arts’ are the executive producers. Disney+ is responsible for the series adaption from 20th Television, The Gotham Group, 3 Arts Entertainment, and Disney Branded Television.