Netflix is boarding a new fantasy adaptation. 2024 has been a big year for the streaming platform. They have been staying afloat while other companies in Hollywood struggle in the wake of the 2023 strikes, during which writers and actors fought for fair pay from the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, who took more than 100 days each to resolve the disputes from the Writers Guild of America and the Screen Actors Guild. The streamer has made several moves this year, including crackdowns, live sports, ments at certain tiers, and a change in their content strategy.

This change has included devoting their resources to prioritizing original, high-quality projects as opposed to acquiring the licenses to stream pre-existing movie and television shows. This includes several prominent projects within the fantasy genre, chasing success of titles like Stranger Things and Damsel, both of which number among the most-watched titles of all time on the platform. Other popular homegrown fantasy franchises on Netflix include The Witcher universe (based on the book series of the same name by Andrzej Sapkowski), The Sandman (adapted from the DC comic of the same name written by Neil Gaiman), and more.

Netflix Now Owns The Rights To Callie Hart's Quicksilver

A New Adaptation Of Quicksilver Can Be Expected

Netflix has bought the rights to a new modern epic fantasy book, Callie Hart's Quicksilver. The novel, which is the first in the Fae & Alchemy trilogy, went viral on BookTok after it was published in June 2024, garnering 3 million views in the first two months through mentions alone, partially due to the fact that it blends romance with fantasy elements, a popular subgenre that has recently become widely referred to as "romantasy." Written by the same author behind Blood & Rose and Dirty Nasty Freaks, the romantasy book climbed to No.1 on Amazon's bestseller chart after its debut.

Major successes that helped spur the romantasy trend are the Fourth Wing novels by Rebecca Yarros and the A Court of Thorns and Roses series by Sarah J. Maas.

Now, according to Deadline, Netflix has won the rights to Callie Hart's Quicksilver, in an auction brokered by WME. The deal is said to be in the seven-figure range. While it is not clear whether the streamer plans to adapt the book as a movie or a series, Hart is set to executive produce the new project with Elizabeth Cantillon serving as producer for The Cantillon Company. Cantillon's recent work includes producing adaptations of Jane Austen's Persuasion (which premiered on Netflix in 2022) and David Lagercrantz's The Girl in the Spider's Web. Read the official synopsis of the novel below:

Twenty-four-year-old Saeris Fane is good at keeping secrets. No one knows about the strange powers she possesses, or the fact that she has been picking pockets and stealing from the Undying Queen’s reservoirs for as long as she can . But a secret is like a knot. Sooner or later, it is bound to come undone.

When Saeris comes face-to-face with Death himself, she inadvertently reopens a gateway between realms and is transported to a land of ice and snow. The Fae have always been the stuff of myth, of legend, of nightmares… but it turns out they’re real, and Saeris has landed herself right in the middle of a centuries-long conflict that might just get her killed.

The first of her kind to tread the frozen mountains of Yvelia in over a thousand years, Saeris mistakenly binds herself to Kingfisher, a handsome Fae warrior, who has secrets and nefarious agendas of his own. He will use her Alchemist’s magic to protect his people, no matter what it costs him… or her.

Death has a name. It is Kingfisher of the Ajun Gate. His past is murky. His attitude stinks. And he’s the only way Saeris is going to make it home.

What Netflix Owning the Rights To Quicksilver Means

Quicksilver Fits Right Into Netflix's Fantasy Collection

With elements including traveling between realms, featuring characters like Death (who appears in an entirely different form as played by Kirby in The Sandman), and a supernaturally-driven enemies-to-lovers romance arc, Quicksilver already sounds like it could be Netflix's next hit fantasy series. It has quite a bit in common with many of their most popular works, including featuring the opportunity to cast a leading man who is either already a widely popular onscreen crush (like Henry Cavill in the Witcher) or someone who Netflix can develop into one (as they have done with both Stranger Things and Shadow and Bone).

Given Netflix's track record of producing top fantasy series, it is very likely that the book will be adapted into a television series, especially considering the fact that Quicksilver is only the first book in the Fae & Alchemy trilogy, with the second set to be released in Fall 2025. While at the time of writing it seems that Netflix has only acquired the rights to the first book, the platform tends to develop properties with potential franchising in mind, with successes across genres including the To All The Boys young adult romance franchise and the crime drama universe of Narcos.

Our Take On Netflix's New Fantasy Acquisition

Quicksilver Could Be Perfect For The Platform

Another element of Fae & Alchemy that makes the romantasy property perfect for Netflix, should they opt to adapt the entire series, is the fact that it is so far set to be limited to a trilogy. While it could expand beyond that with sequels or spinoffs should the novel series become a massive hit alongside a potential adaptation, the fact that the current iteration of the story has a fixed endpoint could help Netflix avoid the same issues that have plagued other recent fantasy shows in their library.

The streamer... controversially cancelled Shadow & Bone in 2023.

Netflix has a habit of ending shows after a run between three and five seasons, which can be limiting for series with more robust novel counts such as The Witcher, which is set to end after season 5 (with Liam Hemsworth taking over the lead role from Henry Cavill as of season 4) even though there are nine novels in the original run. The streamer also controversially cancelled Shadow & Bone in 2023 after the Leigh Bardugo fantasy drama adaptation ran for just two seasons, even after commissioning scripts for a spinoff titled Six of Crows, which was also scrapped.

Reportedly, one major reason that Netflix ends even some of their most popular series after relatively short runs is the fact that talent both onscreen and behind the camera has more bargaining power as the shows continue.

With Quicksilver in a good position to become a Netflix hit should it fully come to fruition and make its way to the screen, the trilogy's natural endpoint means that it can at least most likely avoid being cancelled before its time. Whether a potential adaptation of Fae & Alchemy becomes a movie trilogy or a three-season series, either format could benefit from being complete, both allowing audiences in the moment to have some measure of confidence in its continuation and making the adaptation solid binge material after it is completed.

Source: Deadline