Iron Widow, written by Xiran Jay Zhao and a New York Times bestseller, will reportedly be adapted for the big screen. In order to create a film franchise based on the author’s material, Erik Feig’s Picturestart has purchased the rights to the adaptation. the script will be written by JC Lee (Looking, How to Get Away with Murder). Humanity suffers at the hands of extraterrestrial invaders in Iron Widow’s fictitious realm of Huaxia. Chrysalises, massive changing robots, are their strongest defence against invaders, but they can only be piloted by male and female teams. While male pilots are often treated like superstars, female pilots are often forced into the role of concubine.
Female pilots are more vulnerable to having their vitality sapped by their male partners during battle. The novel also retells the rise to power of Wu Zetian (665–705), China’s only female ruler. Zetian, a reimagining of the empress, is the heroine of this story. She is 18 years old and decides to become a “disposable female concubine-pilot” to get revenge on the ace male pilot who killed her sister. In a surprising turn of events, she exacts her revenge and emerges as a formidable opponent. But now she is considered a danger to the state when she could be its sole hope. The protagonist, the Chinese Empress, is given a mecha makeover, and the fictional country of Huaxia is a futuristic take on China in the Middle Ages.
The novel has been compared favourably to critically acclaimed works such as The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins and Pacific Rim by Guillermo del Toro. Iron Widow, a novel that has been translated into 14 languages and has spent the last 41 weeks on the bestseller list, is a huge hit with today’s young adults. Zachary Ying and the Dragon Emperor, a funny and action-packed middle-grade modern fantasy tale, was released lately by Zhao, a prominent YouTuber.
The forthcoming Bad Genius, starring Julius Onah, is another of Lee’s credits, along with HBO’s Looking starring Jonathan Groff and Murray Bartlett and Apple TV’s The Morning Show featuring Jennifer Aniston and Reese Witherspoon. Pictureswitch’s Jessica Switch, Julia Hammer, and Feig will produce Iron Widow, with Samie Kim Falvey in the role of executive producer. Although no director or actor has been cast, there is little doubt that there is enough interest in the novel to sustain a franchise if the adaptation is successful.