Emilio Sakraya Cast as Xaden in Amazon's 'Fourth Wing' Series

Amazon Prime Video has cast 30-year-old German actor Emilio Sakraya as Xaden Riorson, the male lead of its upcoming "Fourth Wing" adaptation, the streamer revealed Thursday. He'll star opposite 24-year-old Esther McGregor as Violet Sorrengail, the protagonist and narrator of Rebecca Yarros' bestselling fantasy trilogy about dragon riders at Basgiath War College.

For "Fourth Wing" readers — and there are millions of them, largely via BookTok (the TikTok community driving fiction sales) — this casting answers the biggest open question since the adaptation was announced: who plays Xaden?

Who is Emilio Sakraya?

Sakraya comes to the role with a string of action credits. He starred in "Rhinegold," Netflix's "Tribes of Europa" and "Warrior Nun," and appeared in "Those About to Die." He's also set for Season 3 of Netflix's "One Piece."

That résumé matters here. Xaden, as written by Yarros, is a large, dominating wing leader with dark, intimidating features, highly revered at the Basgiath War College — and Sakraya has already spent years playing rebel leaders and performing his own combat sequences and stunts. The character arc is familiar romance territory: Xaden originally detests Violet because of past familial drama, and their tension eventually turns into a steamy romance.

There's a second career here, too. Sakraya records as an electronic pop artist, with over 300,000 monthly listeners on Spotify and sold-out tours across Europe.

Why Violet was the easier call

If Sakraya is a discovery for the fandom, McGregor is a known quantity. She broke out in "We Were Liars," Amazon Prime's 2025 adaptation of E. Lockhart's novel, and appeared opposite Nicole Kidman in Halina Reijn's "Babygirl." Earlier credits include Disney+'s "Obi-Wan Kenobi" — starring her father, Ewan McGregor — and Freevee's "High School."

Her character carries the trilogy's central challenge. In the novels, Violet is a small, frail cadet with dark black hair subtly streaked with silver, and she needs considerably more dragon-riding practice and precision than her peers to survive.

What does this change for the production?

The show still has no official release date. But locking its two leads is the clearest signal yet that production is ramping up. Expect further casting announcements for the trilogy's other prominent characters — Dain Aetos, Liam Mairi and Rhiannon Matthias — as the series moves forward. Two more books in Yarros' series are also still on the way, giving the adaptation a deep runway.