5 Actors Who Could Play Xaden Riorson In Amazon’s Fourth Wing TV Series

Content warning: This story contains discussions of child abuse and sexual assault.

We know that, as of May 2026, “Fourth Wing,” the massively popular BookTok sensation by Rebecca Yarros that kicks off her “Empyrean” series, is getting a TV adaptation from Amazon Prime Video (via Deadline). What we don’t know, as I sit here writing this, is who will play the lead characters. Obviously, in the world that Yarros sets at the magical Basgiath War College, we’ll follow protagonist Violet Sorrengail for most of the narrative, but her love interest and rival, Xaden Riordan, is also a massively pivotal character.

Xaden, a strong dragonrider and leader of the Fourth Wing in Basgiath’s Riders Quadrant, is bonded to a powerful dragon named Sgaeyl … and because this is a fantasy book, his family counts Violet’s family as their enemies. Years before the narrative begins, his rebel mother, Fen Riorson, was killed by Violet’s mother, General Lilith Sorrengail, which drives a wedge between the two immediately. Xaden is appropriately impressed when Violet tames not one but two dragons, though, and an undeniable attraction grows between them.

Something extremely important to note, as far as Xaden is concerned, is that Yarros has clarified that the character is a person of color and asked fans to stop “whitewashing” him in fan art; to that end, we’ve chosen a majority of fan-casting options appropriate for the story Yarros set out to tell in “Fourth Wing.” Without further ado, here are five extremely talented performers who might do a great job as Xaden Riordan in the “Fourth Wing” adaptation.

If you need an actor who can convincingly play rakish, high-born, and haughty, you can hardly do better than Regé-Jean Page, who rose to fame and acclaim thanks to his role as Simon Basset, the Duke of Hastings, in the inaugural season of “Bridgerton.” During the first season of the steamy romance show based on Julia Quinn’s novels, Page smirked and sneered his way through scenes as Simon, who finds himself in an arranged relationship with the season’s newest “diamond,” Daphne Bridgerton (Phoebe Dynevor), who has just made her entrance into society and is looking for an eligible husband. Simon, who would prefer to stay single, agrees to fake a courtship, and I’m sure you can guess that the whole thing ends with Daphne and Simon falling madly in love. Page — and Simon — exited the show after Season 1 as the story shifted to focus on other pairs of lovers.

Elsewhere, Page has appeared in the truly excellent “Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves,” in Steven Soderbergh’s acclaimed 2025 spy drama “Black Bag,” and as the romantic lead alongside Halle Bailey in the 2026 romantic comedy “You, Me & Tuscany.” Page can play just about any role, if I’m being honest, and he would make a great Xaden.

Even though Taylor Zakhar-Perez has stuck to lighter fare throughout his career thus far, I think he’s a worthy candidate to play Xaden … because the boy sure does know how to yearn. After his breakthrough role as Marco Valentin Peña in the popular Netflix teen rom-com “The Kissing Booth 2,” which he reprised in the franchise’s third film, the cleverly named “The Kissing Booth 3.” There’s no question, though, that Zakhar-Perez’s biggest role to date came thanks to the Amazon Prime Video film “Red, White & Royal Blue” as Alex Claremont-Diaz, the first son of the United States in an imaginary world where a woman, Uma Thurman’s Ellen Claremont, is the President.

Based on Casey McQuiston’s best-selling queer romance novel (which I can personally confirm is an absolute delight from cover to cover), “Red, White & Royal Blue” imagines a world where said first son falls in love with a British prince; namely, Nicholas Galitzine’s shy, painfully closeted Prince Henry. I definitely think Zakhar-Perez would be able to summon Xaden’s angrier side, based on some of the arguments Alex has with Galitzine’s Henry in the film, but he would, without question, excel at the more romantic scenes between Xaden and Violet.

Introduced in the third and final season of Meaghan Oppenheimer’s Hulu hit “Tell Me Lies,” Costa D’Angelo’s Alex is introduced as a guy who makes (presumably easy) money dealing drugs to wealthy students attending the pastoral and fictional Baird College in upstate New York. When he’s unexpectedly reunited with his former foster-kid classmate, Bree (Cat Missal), he also meets the series lead, Lucy Albright (Grace van Patten), and they strike up a deeply dysfunctional romance. Part of the reason I’m pitching D’Angelo as a potential contender to play Xaden is that his cold, unyielding behavior towards Lucy — a girl hung up on her toxic ex-boyfriend Stephen DeMarco (Jackson White) — sometimes breaks, at which point he’s caring and kind towards her, proving that this young actor has considerable range.

Alex is an addition that Oppenheimer made to the story of “Tell Me Lies” — he doesn’t appear in Carola Lovering’s book of the same name, the source material that Oppenheimer approved against all odds — and D’Angelo really brings him to life. D’Angelo is Italian-Australian, making him Mediterranean — that doesn’t rule him out of the running, given Hollywood — but it’s hard to deny he would be great in the role. Why not give him another potentially star-making turn and cast him as Xaden in “Fourth Wing?”

Charles Melton should, by all rights, have an Academy Award nomination for his scene-stealing supporting turn in the Todd Haynes film “May December” — so maybe we can get him some big franchise work in “Fourth Wing” to ease the sting of that whole thing. In “May December,” Melton plays Joe Yoo, a child in an adult’s body who, years before the film’s narrative begins, was sexually assaulted, abused, and groomed by his friend’s much-older mother, Gracie Atherton (Julianne Moore). Years after the abuse, actress Elizabeth Berry (Natalie Portman) travels to visit Gracie and Joe, now married, in Georgia to study Gracie and learn to play her in an upcoming film about her crimes. Melton is horrifyingly magnetic as Joe, a boy who never got to grow up in a way that made him feel safe or loved, and it’s a testament to his talent that he manages to outshine both Moore and Portman (both of whom, incidentally, are Oscar winners).

Melton has shown up in other projects, of course; he popped up on teen fare like “Glee” and “Riverdale,” played the romantic lead in “The Sun Is Also a Star,” and headlined Season 2 of Netflix’s anthology series “Beef.” He would, indisputably, make an incredible Xaden, chiefly because this guy can do anything — and he’s still young enough to be suitable.

Mindy Kaling’s teen romance series on Netflix, “Never Have I Ever,” gave the world an incredible gift by casting newcomer Maitreyi Ramakrishnan as the show’s lead Devi Vishwakumar, a high schooler determined to hook up with the cutest guy in school. That cutest guy, though, is also a great find — and I’m talking about Darren Barnet, who plays said cutest guy Paxton Hall-Yoshida … and who does end up going out with Devi thanks to sheer force of will on her part.

You’ll have to experience “Never Have I Ever” for yourself (and you should, because it’s great) to see who Devi ends up with when all is said and done — is it Paxton or her academic rival Ben Gross (Jaren Lewison)? When you watch this sweet and funny series, though, pay special attention to Barnet’s extremely thoughtful performance as Paxton, an athletic star with much more depth than you’d ever expect. Frankly, Barnet’s attitude as Paxton, which he wields against Devi time and time again, is why he’d make such a great Xaden. Can’t you just see him sneering at the actress who plays Violet, while his face quietly betrays that he totally wants to kiss her?

If you or someone you know may be the victim of child abuse, please contact the Childhelp National Child Abuse Hotline at 1-800-4-A-Child (1-800-422-4453) or contact their live chat services.

If you or anyone you know has been a victim of sexual assault, help is available. Visit the Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network website or contact RAINN’s National Helpline at 1-800-656-HOPE (4673).