ACOTAR Books 6 and 7 Are Coming. The TV Show Is Starting Over.

Sarah J. Maas just dropped two release dates and confirmed she got the Hulu rights back. Here is everything that happened.

Five years of waiting. One podcast. Two release dates.

On March 4, 2026, Sarah J. Maas appeared on Alex Cooper's Call Her Daddy and announced that not one but two new A Court of Thorns and Roses books are coming within the next year. In the same conversation, she confirmed that the Hulu adaptation is dead and that she now has all the rights back.

The quick version

ACOTAR 6 release date: October 27, 2026
ACOTAR 7 release date: January 12, 2027
Pre-order status: Both available to pre-order now
Titles and covers: Not yet announced
Hulu adaptation: Officially dead
Rights status: Maas has all rights back as of March 2026
Future adaptation: Maas open to it but wants full creative control

What is ACOTAR?

First published in May 2015 by Bloomsbury, A Court of Thorns and Roses follows Feyre Archeron, a 19-year-old human huntress who kills a faerie disguised as a wolf and is taken across the Wall into Prythian, a magical realm divided into seven courts each ruled by a High Lord.

What begins as a Beauty and the Beast retelling for book 1 becomes considerably darker across the series: political intrigue across rival courts, a morally complex love story, war, betrayal, and a world where every faction has its own logic and its own cost.

The series currently has three main novels, one bridging novella, and one spinoff novel:

A Court of Thorns and Roses (2015)
A Court of Mist and Fury (2016)
A Court of Wings and Ruin (2017)
A Court of Frost and Starlight (2018) -- bridging novella, not a full novel
A Court of Silver Flames (2021) -- spinoff novel following Nesta and Cassian

The last full release was A Court of Silver Flames in February 2021. Books 6 and 7 are the continuation. Maas and her publisher Bloomsbury are numbering them 6 and 7, acknowledging the novella in the count.

Why it took so long and what changed

Maas was candid on the podcast. The delay was not writer's block in the traditional sense.

"If I feel like I have writer's block, I'm like, 'Get your ass in the chair and work.' But this was different. This was different. I needed to get something sorted out first."

Sarah J. Maas, Call Her Daddy, March 4, 2026

During a trip to Montana, the story finally broke open. When it did, it came out massive. The original manuscript ran well over 1,000 pages. Rather than cut it down, Maas split it into parts.

ACOTAR 6 (October 2026): part one, already over 400 pages on its own
ACOTAR 7 (January 2027): parts two and three
Part four: planned but not yet written, may become a third book

"It's meant to be read ideally as one massive, massive story. It's not a trilogy. Arcs aren't wrapped up."

Sarah J. Maas, Call Her Daddy, March 4, 2026

The Hulu adaptation: what happened and where things stand

The ACOTAR TV series was announced in March 2021 at Hulu. Author Sarah J. Maas and Outlander creator Ronald D. Moore (Starz) were co-writing the pilot together, with 20th Television producing.

Here is the full timeline:

March 2021: Hulu and 20th Television announce the series. Maas and Moore co-writing the pilot.
2023: Writers and actors strikes pause all scripted development across Hollywood.
July 2024: Moore departs the project after leaving Disney for Sony, where he signed a multi-year deal. Confirms exit at Comic-Con.
February 2025: Hulu officially drops the project. Variety confirms it is dead at the streamer.
Late summer 2025: Disney's 20th Television option on the rights expires.
March 2026: Maas confirms on Call Her Daddy she now has all rights back.

At Comic-Con, Moore explained why the project never gained traction: "From COVID to the strikes to a lot of shakeup in terms of Bob Iger leaving, Bob Iger coming back -- that piece of development just never got traction. I spent a lot of time working on it and then it didn't happen, so okay, I just move on."

What Maas said about a future adaptation

She has not closed the door. She has changed the terms.

Maas described herself as a Type-A personality who wants creative control. She wants to ensure the story is told as she and her readers envisioned it, preserving the integrity of the narrative. She said the series is part of her legacy.

No new deal has been announced as of publication. Given the romantasy wave in streaming right now, with Fourth Wing at Prime Video and multiple BookTok properties in development, another studio picking this up is a matter of when, not if.

What writers can take from this

The story told you when it was ready. Maas did not force a book out to meet market demand. She waited until the story was fully formed, then wrote it fast. The delay was not failure. It was honesty about the creative process.
Size is not the problem. Structure is. A 1,000-plus page manuscript is not unmanageable. It just needed a different shape. Splitting by parts rather than cramming into one volume kept the story intact. Know what your story actually needs before you decide what format it fits.
Creative control is worth fighting for. Maas spent years watching a beloved world develop slowly into nothing in someone else's hands. Getting the rights back was not a consolation prize. It was the real win. For writers thinking about adaptation, what you sign away matters as much as whether it gets made.
World depth is why this keeps coming back. The ACOTAR world has seven courts, hundreds of characters, interlocking political loyalties, and enough lore to fuel multiple books and counting. That is the result of a writer who built the architecture before she needed it.

ACOTAR 6 releases October 27, 2026. ACOTAR 7 releases January 12, 2027. Both are available to pre-order now through major retailers. No new adaptation deal has been announced as of publication.

If you are working on a romantasy or fantasy novel and the above has you thinking about your own story architecture, Writeo is a free novel writing platform with a Character Relationship Visualizer, character profiles, and a worldbuilding module. Free forever at writeo.app.

Sources

Call Her Daddy podcast: Sarah J. Maas appearance, March 4, 2026 (Alex Cooper, SiriusXM)

USA Today: Sarah J. Maas Reveals ACOTAR 6 and 7 Release Dates, March 4, 2026 (Clare Mulroy)

TODAY / NBC News: ACOTAR Author Sarah J. Maas Shares Details About Next Two Books, March 4, 2026

TVLine: ACOTAR Series Officially Not Moving Forward at Hulu, February 2025

Variety: Ronald D. Moore to Develop ACOTAR Series at Hulu, March 26, 2021; Hulu drops adaptation, February 2025

Marie Claire: Sarah J. Maas Confirms She Got the Rights Back to the ACOTAR Adaptation, March 5, 2026

Bustle: ACOTAR Books 6 and 7: Release Dates, Sarah J. Maas Updates, March 5, 2026

Bloomsbury Publishing: Official publisher of the ACOTAR series; ACOFAS confirmed as novella

Barnes and Noble: ACOTAR series page confirming book count and publication dates

ACOTAR Books 6 and 7 Are Coming. The TV Show Is Starting Over.

ACOTAR Books 6 and 7 Are Coming. The TV Show Is Starting Over.

Arya Quinn

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