Warning: This list contains spoilers for Holly Black's The Folk of the Air novels.

Summary

• Kaitlyn Dever would be a great fit to portray the determined and assertive Jude Duarte in a hypothetical film adaptation of The Cruel Prince.
• Finn Wolfhard closely matches the description of Prince Cardan and his rise to fame makes him an ideal choice for the role.
• The cast for The Cruel Prince should also include Katherine Langford as Taryn, Maya Hawke as Vivienne, and Jenna Ortega as Nicasia.

Many fantasy novel series are being adapted into movies and TV shows these days – is it possible that Holly Black's The Cruel Prince will be next? Perfect for fans of Sarah J. Maas' A Court of Thorns and Roses and Throne of Glass series, The Cruel Prince follows human Jude Duarte who was raised in the faerie kingdom of Elfhame alongside her sisters after their parents' murder. The Cruel Prince is the first book in The Folk of the Air trilogy, followed by The Wicked King and The Queen of Nothing.

Throughout the series, Jude endeavors to navigate the pageantry and politics of the faerie world, leading her to confront her enemy, ally, and lover, Prince Cardan Greenbriar. Cardan is just one of the mysterious and morally ambiguous residents of Elfhame with whom Jude interacts. There is also Nicasia, the haughty princess of the Undersea; Prince Dain, Cardan's manipulative brother; and Madoc and Oriana, Jude's scheming foster parents who are bound together by a game-changing secret. A hypothetical Cruel Prince movie would require a talented set of actors to bring these complex characters to life.

Before writing The Cruel Prince, Holly Black was best known for co-creating the children's fantasy series The Spiderwick Chronicles with Tony DiTerlizzi.

10 Kaitlyn Dever As Jude

Best known for playing Marie Adler in Unbelievable (2019) and Rosaline in Rosaline (2022).

Humans are of second-class status in Elfhame, which is why Jude is determined to prove herself as a fighter and politician. She is headstrong and never misses a chance to assert herself within her adoptive family and Elfhame's society. She has brown hair and eyes, a heart-shaped face, and often wears her hair styled into horns. In addition to matching Jude's appearance in the book, Katilyn Dever is generally a talented actress with two Golden Globe nominations under her belt.

Dever most recently played the title character in Hulu's Rosaline, a comedic reimagining of Romeo and Juliet. In this movie, Rosaline is depicted as a schemer determined to win back Romeo while resisting her parents' attempts to marry her off. Rosaline's motives and methods are similar to Jude's, although Rosaline's story has a more humorous angle. It would be great to see Dever play this character archetype again in a more serious setting.

9 Finn Wolfhard As Cardan

Best known for playing Trevor Spengler in Ghostbusters: Afterlife (2021) and Mike Wheeler in Stranger Things (2016-2025).

Finn Wolfhard has benefited from a swift rise to fame along with the rest of the Ghostbusters movies. Yet audiences are still eager for more from Wolfhard, and he might consider eventually stepping out of the role of the Goonies-type gang's de facto ringleader. Wolfhard closely matches the book's description of Prince Cardan, who has sharp cheekbones and curly black hair. Cardan is the youngest son of the King of Elfhame and arguably the title character of the first book.

Jude and Cardan have an enemies-to-lovers storyline: Cardan is initially depicted as irredeemably cruel and he and his inner circle of friends bully Jude and her sister Taryn. Cardan is abused by his family and grows up with the burden of a prophecy that he will be the downfall of the throne. He covers up his own emotions, especially his attraction to Jude, with cruelty. He and Jude slowly become allies and friends.

8 Katherine Langford As Taryn

Best known for playing Meg Thrombey in Knives Out (2019) and Hannah Baker in 13 Reasons Why (2017-2020).

Taryn is Jude's twin sister, who poses a specific casting challenge. Several plot points hinge on Jude and Taryn being identical twins and people not being able to tell them apart. For this reason, the producers of an adaptation of The Cruel Prince might just have the actress playing Jude also play Taryn. On the other hand, they could write these plot elements out and cast them based on a moderate resemblance.

Katherine Langford proved herself as an actress who can portray powerful emotions in 13 Reasons Why. Additionally, she played a character who is entitled and manipulative but is mostly unaware of these shortcomings in Knives Out. The latter role makes her especially perfect to play Taryn, whose relationship with Jude becomes strained when she consistently chooses her fiancé Locke over her sister.

7 Maya Hawke As Vivienne

Best known for playing June in Asteroid City (2023) and Robin Buckley in Stranger Things (2016-2025).

The daughter of Uman Thurman and Ethan Hawke starred alongside Wolfhard in Stranger Things, and has also had roles in Asteroid City and the Best Picture nominee Maestro. Maya Hawke is certainly capable of playing June and Taryn's half-sister Vivienne "Vivi," who has cat-like features. Vivi is half-faerie, the daughter of Madoc and his former human wife Eva. Vivi was raised in the human realm by her mother and her human step-father Justin, who was Jude and Taryn's father.

Madoc eventually finds the Duarte family, kills both parents, and takes all three daughters back to his household in Elfhame. While her younger sisters acclimate to living in the faerie realm, Vivienne is adamant that Madoc is their enemy. As she grows older, she spends more time in the human realm, where she has a girlfriend named Heather.

6 Ben Barnes As Madoc

Best known for playing Prince Caspian in The Chronicles of Narnia movies (2008 & 2010) and General Kirigan in Shadow and Bone (2021-2023).

Who better to play a cruel character who at some point has a somewhat affectionate relationship with the main character than Ben Barnes? Barnes played a character who serves a similar role in the recently-canceled TV show Shadow and Bone, an adaptation of another young adult fantasy series. Barnes could perfectly play Madoc, the Duarte sisters' foster father. Madoc violently kills Jude's parents in revenge for them leaving with his daughter Vivi. He adopts Jude and Taryn because they are "the progeny of his wife" and therefore his responsibility.

5 Gugu Mbatha-Raw As Oriana

Best known for playing Dido Elizabeth Belle in Belle (2013) and Judge Renslayer in Loki (2021-2023).

Oriana is Madoc's wife and the adoptive mother of Oak, who she claims is her own biological son. Oriana was a close friend of Liriope, one of the King's consorts who had an affair with Prince Dain. When Dain plotted to murder his and Liriope's son Oak, Oriana took Oak away from court and married Madoc for the protection he could provide them both. Oriana is an adept courtier and could be played by Gugu Mbatha-Raw, whose past roles demonstrate that she can portray characters who are conservatively lady-like but also convey authority.

4 Tati Gabrielle As Heather

Best known for playing Jo Braddock in Uncharted (2022) and Hannah Kim in Kaleidoscope (2023).

Heather is Vivi's human girlfriend who visits the faerie realm once, and is traumatized when another faerie temporarily jinxes her to have cat ears. Heather is kind and caring but stands up for herself and breaks up with Vivi when she learns that Vivi erased her memory of being jinxed. While Tati Gabrielle's characters in Kaleidoscope and Uncharted are not exactly like Heather, she has experience playing a tough but kind character from voicing Willow in The Owl House. Heather also has pink hair, and Gabrielle often dyes her hair different colors – and always looks great.

3 Jamie Campbell Bower As Locke

Best known for playing Anthony in Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (2007) and Jace in The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones (2013).

Locke is a faerie who is a member of Cardan's circle of friends. He briefly has a relationship with Jude, but it is revealed that he only showed interest in Jude to test Tayrn. Taryn had fallen in love with Locke and Locke declared that Taryn must silently endure his manipulation of her sister to prove her love.

Jamie Campbell Bower is perfect to play Locke because of the range of characters he has played in the past. He played typical love-interest characters in Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street and The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones. His more recent role in the Twilight Saga and brief appearances in the Harry Potter and Fantastic Beasts movies were more malevolent, manipulative characters. Locke would have scenes recalling both of Bower's character archetypes.

2 Jacob Elordi As Dain

Best known for playing Elvis Presley in Priscilla (2023) and Felix Catton in Saltburn (2023).

Dain is another prince of Elfhame and is Cardan's older brother. He recruits Jude to become his spy and introduces her to his Court of Shadows. He initially appears to be an ally who respects Jude, but eventually reveals himself to be cruel and power-hungry. Jude discovers that Dain ordered for his lover Liriope to be poisoned while she was pregnant with his son Oak, hoping to kill them both, because it was prophesized that if the baby was born Dain would never be king.

Jacob Elordi would be perfect as Dain because, as he has demonstrated in his most recent movies, he is adept at playing a character who is believably charming but ultimately selfish. In Priscilla, Elordi plays Elvis, who dotes upon his wife but tries to mold her into his ideal image of a woman. In Saltburn, he is the entitled son of a wealthy family who, perhaps unconsciously, manipulates his friends and family.

1 Jenna Ortega As Nicasia

Best known for playing Tara Carpenter in the Scream movies (2022 & 2023) and Wednesday Addams in Wednesday (2022-Present).

Nicasia is another member of Cardan's group of friends when they are first introduced. Nicasia's mother Queen Orlagh rules the Undersea, an underwater kingdom that co-exists with the faeries on land. Nicasia is sent to be fostered in Elfhame's court, where she bullies almost everyone. She is Cardan's former lover but still has feelings for him, making her hate Jude even more. Jenna Ortega obviously has the ability to play a superior and disdainful yet complex character, making her the perfect person to complete the cast of The Cruel Prince as Nicasia.