It’s official! The royal court has been announced for Prime Video’s film adaptation of Red, White & Royal Blue. Screaming the declaration from the rooftops was the original book’s author, Casey McQuiston. Taking to Twitter to unveil the news, McQuiston posted an email from Prime Video, in which they revealed to the author that Taylor Zakhar Perez (The Kissing Booth 2 & 3) and Nicholas Galitzine (Cinderella) nabbed the roles of the starring characters, Alex Claremont-Diaz and Prince Henry, respectively.
Along with our leading men, we also know that Clifton Collins Jr., Stephen Fry, and Sarah Shahi have been tapped to star, with an ensemble cast including Rachel Hilson, Ellie Bamber, Aneesh Sheth, Polo Morin, Ahmed Elhaj, and Akshay Khanna. Although it sounds like your run-of-the-mill Hallmark-movie type of love story, Red, White & Royal Blue promises to be one of a kind. Why? Because it centers around two young men who fall in love and, while this shouldn’t completely blow our socks off, it still does as there aren’t a lot of joyful queer stories out there and even less that are put on such a mainstream platform as Prime Video.
Directed by Tony Award-winning playwright Matthew López, the feature will center on a young Mexican-American man named Alex Claremont-Diaz (Perez), whose mother has just won the Presidency. Now, Alex needs to snap into place as the face of the White House and act as a young royal – something he excels at. Charming and witty, Alex only faces one problem with his new role – he must become friends with his English rival, Prince Henry (Galitzine). Expected by both of their families to squash their beef, at least in the public’s eye, and become best friends, the two soon find that they have a bigger connection than either expected. Now, Alex has a new problem on his hands as he’s forced to keep his romance with Prince Henry a secret so as to not rock the boat and ruin his mother’s chance at a re-election.
Initially adapted to script form by Ted Malawer, the feature was fine-tuned by López into the onscreen telling we can expect to see. López, McQuiston, and Michael McGrath serve as executive producers with Greg Berlanti and Sarah Schecter producing under their Berlanti/Schechter Films banner.
If the accolades following the novel are any indication, Red, White & Royal Blue is going to be a big hit for the streaming service. McQuiston’s book immediately became a New York Times and USA Today bestseller and has raked in several other achievements during its time sitting on shelves everywhere. Hot on the heels of another queer love story turned mega-hit, Netflix’s Heartstopper, we’re thinking the talents of Perez and Galitzine are going to help drive this one to the top of its game. No released date has been yet set, but stay tuned to Collider for more information as it becomes available. You can see McQuiston’s announcement below.
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