Who is Fourth Wing's female lead, Esther McGregor? All about her superstar father, educational qualifications

Fourth Wing fans can’t control their glee. Rebecca Yarros’s fantasy romance, which became a smash hit after it emerged as a BookTok darling, will now be coming alive on the small screen, and two of its leads are now on board. British actress Esther McGregor and German actor Emilio Sakraya have been roped in to play Violet Sorrengail and Xaden Riorson. In the story, Violet’s mother, a formidable military general, compels her to give up her ambition of becoming a scribe and enrol as a dragon rider at Basgiath War College. The brutal institution forces cadets to compete for a scarce number of dragons, with some losing their lives in the process.

At the college, Violet develops feelings for Xaden, a fearedingleader who poses a threat to her. His father had led an uprising against Navarre’s ruling kingdom, adding another layer of danger and conflict to their complicated relationship.

Fourth Wing quickly became a sensation among book enthusiasts on TikTok, leading it to climb atop the New York Times bestseller list. It sold over two million copies in just six months.


The novel launched the hugely successful Empyrean series, followed by two instalments, Iron Flame and Onyx Storm. Publisher Entangled reported that the series had sold over 12 million copies across the United States by early 2025. A companion title, Threshing Day, arrived in September. Meanwhile, Onyx Storm sold nearly 1.3 million print editions during its debut week at retailers monitored by Circana BookScan. According to Circana, the achievement made it the fastest-selling adult book in the history of the tracking service, which began recording sales in 2004.

Who Is Esther McGregor?

If her surname sounded vaguely familiar, you were not wrong. Esther is the daughter of popular Scottish actor Ewan McGregor, known for hits such as Trainspotting, Moulin Rouge, Star Wars, etc., and French-Greek Jewish production designer Eve Mavrakis. A graduate of New York University, she had some film credits in films such as Nicole Kidman’s Babygirl, The Room Next Door, Clean Hands before she achieved her breakthrough with the psychological thriller TV series We Were Liars, which incidentally was also an adaptation of the 2014 young adult novel of the same name.