The fantasy series ‘Rise of the Empress’ is coming to Amazon

Prime Video is entering another fantasy realm.

The Amazon-owned streamer has greenlit a series based on Julie C. Daos Rise of the Empress novels. The drama — which counts Viola Davis, Forest Whitaker and Gemma Chan among its executive producers — is set in a “fantastic ancient Asian empire,” according to the show’s logline, and centers on a peasant girl named Xifeng who, aided by a vengeful sorceress, fights for to win the heir to the throne’s heart.

Crystal Liu (American Horror Story) and James Wong (The X-Files, AHS) will serve as co-showrunners on the series, which hails from Amazon MGM Studios, Davis and Julius Tennon’s JuVee Productions, and Whitaker and Nina Yang Bongiovi’s Significant Productions.

“This story, led by an incredible female protagonist, is an inspiring tale of strength and resilience,” said Nick Pepper, Head of Wholly Owned US SVOD TV Development and Series at Amazon MGM Studios. “Crystal, along with the teams at JuVee and Significant and Gemma, have done a fantastic job of capturing the magic created by Julie and we are delighted to welcome James to help bring this brilliant project to life in a way that that will resonate with our global Prime Video customers.”

Said Liu: “I am honored and so excited for this opportunity to bring Julie C. Dao’s extraordinary books to the screen – a sumptuous, spellbinding tale of intrigue with a subversive heroine through the ages. Feel beyond grateful to embark on this journey with the legendary James Wong and our spectacular producers JuVee, Significant and Gemma Chan.And I couldn’t ask for a more perfect partner than Amazon to build this epic, daring new world driven by the wonderful, twisted things we do for love.”

Rise of the Empress will join a list of fantasy series on Prime Video that also includes The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power and The Wheel of Time.

Liu and Wong will executive produce the series with Davis, Tennon and television executive Andrew Wang for JuVee Productions; Whitaker and Bongiovi for significant productions; and Chan. Author Dao is a co-EP.