Joey King Has A New Netflix Project & Dystopian YA Fans Are Going To *Love* It
The past decade has seen a boom in dystopian YA novels becoming major movie sagas, from The Hunger Games to Divergent and The Maze Runner. Now, Joey King is jumping into the genre with a new Netflix adaptation of a beloved teen sci-fi book series. Get ready for some wild drama, because Joey King will star in an Uglies Netflix movie, which is especially exciting, since she's a huge fan of the 2005 novel and its three follow-up books.
In case you're not familiar with Uglies, the story is set hundreds of years in the future in a society that has become obsessed with beauty and conformity. In the book series, the government provides cosmetic surgery for every citizen once they turn 16, transforming them from "Uglies" into "Pretties." The story centers on Tally Youngblood, who is approaching her 16th birthday and starting to rethink whether she wants to go through with the "pretty" operation or rebel against it.
The new adaptation was made possible thanks largely to King herself, according to Deadline. She's long been an avid fan of the book series, and was reportedly the one who convinced Netflix to option it in the first place. King will also executive produce the movie in addition to starring in it. She posted about her excitement over the project to Instagram, proving her membership in the fandom by referencing some of the terms in the books.
Uglies comes after King has cemented herself as Netflix's teen queen thanks to her starring role in the streamer's hit The Kissing Booth series. The already-filmed third movie in the rom-com franchise is slated to be released in 2021.
If King's Uglies film is a hit, Netflix has the opportunity to pick up multiple sequels and turn it into a saga, given the 2005 novel has three followup books: 2005's Pretties, 2006's Specials, and 2007's Extras. Multiple sequels seem likely, given how studios have approached past teen sci-fi adaptations, and Netflix itself has a track record for greenlighting follow-ups for its popular teen films like The Kissing Booth and To All the Boys I've Loved Before.
There are no details yet on when Uglies will begin filming, let alone when it will be released, but fans can likely expect the movie to hit Netflix either toward the end of 2021 or sometime in 2022.
