Netflix turns a best-selling fantasy about a time-traveling knight into its next must-watch series
Netflix has snagged Alix E. Harrow’s bestseller The Everlasting after a heated bidding war, setting up a series adaptation. Expect a time-loop twist as a legendary knight and a historian get tangled across centuries, with Variety first to report the deal.
Netflix has added another big fantasy title to its ever-expanding pile, and this one really does tick just about every 'ambitious bestseller' box: time travel, knights, star-crossed lovers, and, inevitably, a historian who's far too down on his luck. The streamer has snapped up the rights to Alix E. Harrow's novel The Everlasting, outbidding a crowd of rivals, and they've wasted no time setting up a high-profile adaptation.
What’s The Everlasting All About?
The core of the story: Sir Una Everlasting isn't your average chivalric hero – she’s a legendary female knight, orphaned and risen to improbable heights. Then there’s Owen Mallory, a hopelessly struggling historian whose own life amounts to little until he’s unceremoniously hurled back through time. These two end up stuck reliving the same story, again and again, scattered across different eras, and drawn into dilemmas about rewriting history itself – every sci-fi nerd’s favourite question.
The official blurb describes Sir Una as 'the orphaned girl who became a knight, who died for queen and country.' Owen, meanwhile, is down as a 'failed soldier, struggling scholar' who – and here’s the classic set-up – falls in love with Una’s tale, possibly her as well. Together, the pair are caught in a historical feedback loop that forces both to consider whether it’s even possible (or remotely wise) to change Una’s apparently tragic fate.
Who’s Putting This One Together?
Daphne Ferraro is on board to write and executive produce. You might recognise her name from Maxton Hall, that melodramatic prep school series for Amazon, but those who want something a touch more mind-bending should note she also worked on Dark – Germany’s answer to 'let’s make time travel as complicated as humanly possible.' Ferraro is also attached to showrun Powerless, an upcoming romantasy (their word, not mine) trilogy for Amazon MGM Studios.
The production roster is properly stacked:
- Daphne Ferraro (writer, executive producer)
- Alix E. Harrow (author, executive producer)
- Tim Bevan and Eric Fellner (big names from Working Title, both exec producing)
- Katy Rozelle and Lea Cuello (executive producers)
- Universal International Studios attached as the actual production company
The project’s still firmly in the ‘early stages’ basket, so don’t expect casting news or set photos for a while yet.
Why Is Everyone Talking About Alix E. Harrow?
Harrow’s novels have made a proper splash with fantasy readers. Before The Everlasting, she built a reputation on books such as The Ten Thousand Doors of January, The Once and Future Witches and Starling House – all of which have drawn praise for doing something a bit different with genre formulas. She’s repped by Circle Management + Production and Kate McKean at the Howard Morhaim Literary Agency, if you’re a completist about these things.
How Does This Fit Into Netflix’s Game Plan?
Netflix’s bigger plan, as you might have noticed, is to hoover up as many buzzy book adaptations as possible. If The Everlasting makes it to series, it’ll be in good company alongside the likes of The Queen’s Gambit, Bridgerton, and Leave the World Behind. Considering the ongoing arm-wrestle for genre TV, that’s not a bad strategy, though let's just hope this one doesn’t go the way of so many Netflix fantasy projects and vanish after a single season.