Netflix is developing a television adaptation of Katharine McGee’s bestselling American Royals books, bringing the alternate-history story of an American royal family to a new audience. The project is still in development, so there is no announced premiere date or production timeline yet.
That means parents and teens shouldn’t expect to see the series on Netflix anytime soon. Television projects can take months or years to move from development through writing, casting and production, and no screen release has been confirmed.
The deal does, however, show the continuing appeal of YA novels as source material for television. American Royals already has an established readership, giving Netflix a built-in story world and audience before the first episode is filmed.
What Are the American Royals Books About?
The series imagines an alternate version of American history in which George Washington accepted a crown after the Revolutionary War. Two and a half centuries later, the House of Washington still rules the United States, with Princess Beatrice, Princess Samantha and Prince Jefferson at the center of the drama.
The four-book series mixes royal intrigue with romance, family pressure and questions about duty. The publisher describes it as “Crazy Rich Asians meets The Crown,” while the fourth book, Reign, brings the New York Times bestselling series to its conclusion.
For teens who enjoy stories about powerful families, complicated relationships and glamorous settings, the premise has plenty of familiar YA ingredients. The books also offer plenty of material for a television adaptation, with multiple characters and overlapping storylines that could unfold across several seasons.
YA Books Are Having a Major Moment
The American Royals adaptation arrives during a particularly busy period for YA publishing. Sam Subity’s analysis of 2023 publications began with almost 2,000 YA books before narrowing the sample to 615 titles with at least 10 Goodreads reviews.
Fantasy accounted for 30% of the YA books in Subity’s sample, while romance was also one of the dominant categories. Even more striking, more than half of the YA books published that year used a first-person-present perspective.
That popularity is also translating into adaptations, with publishers and streaming services increasingly looking to successful YA properties for their next potential hits. For American Royals, Netflix now has an opportunity to introduce McGee’s royal family to viewers who may never have picked up the books.
