The Last Letter, written by Fourth Wing author Rebecca Yarros, has landed a six-figure deal at Amazon MGM after a fierce bidding war. The novel, which was published in 2019 and later became a BookTok sensation, follows an Army veteran named Beckett Gentry, who is consumed by a major secret while fulfilling a promise to a deceased friend and fellow soldier.
Per The Hollywood Reporter, Amazon won the movie rights with an option in the range of $200,000 million dollars and a potential purchase price of $2 million. Five companies, including Netflix and Paramount, fought for the rights before Amazon became the winner.
Yarros will be an executive producer through her company Full Measures, which is named after her first novel that was published in 2014. Anna Klassen is in final talks to write the screenplay for Amazon MGM’s movie adaptation of The Last Letter, while Imagine Entertainment’s Brian Glazer and Jeb Brody are in talks to produce.
This deal comes as Prime Video’s Fourth Wing show remains in development. Showrunner Moira Walley-Beckett exited the series in July and Meredith Averill was announced to be the new showrunner in September. The Empyrean series, which begins with Fourth Wing, has sold more than 12 million copies since the first installment was published in 2023.
Such success has helped The Last Letter acquire such a lucrative deal even though it is expected to be a mid-budget adult drama. The Last Letter is a more traditional romance drama, while the Empyrean books blend both fantasy and romance. This genre is known as romantasy, and it has achieved more mainstream popularity due to Yarros’ novels.
As for the upcoming movie’s screenwriter, Klassen is a former journalist who has written for Newsweek, Bustle, and The Daily Beast. Her first screenplay was in 2017 for a J.K. Rowling biopic, When Lightning Strikes, although it did not end up being produced. Since then, Klassen has written several scripts for romance stories, including the upcoming adaptation of Anna Todd’s romance novel The Last Sunrise, which stars Eva Longoria and is in production at Amazon.
With both Fourth Wing and The Last Letter being adapted at Amazon, it is becoming the go-to destination for Yarros’ books. There has already been extensive fancasting surrounding the Fourth Wing show, and now, the same process can begin for The Last Letter, as fans share who they believe would be the perfect choices to play Beckett and the novel’s other key characters.