‘Divine Rivals’ Author on Film Adaptation’s Script, How ‘God of War’ Video Game Inspired New Prequel Book ‘Wild Reverence’

SPOILER ALERT: This story contains spoilers for Rebecca Ross’ “Divine Rivals” prequel, “Wild Reverence,” released Sept. 2 by Saturday Books.

Rebecca Ross is deep in her own world right now.

While the best-selling author is in the thick of promoting her new book, “Wild Reverence,” she’s eagerly awaiting the first draft of the screenplay for the film adaptation of “Divine Rivals,” which was the first book in her “Letters of Enchantment” series, consisting of April 2023’s “Divine Rivals” and December 2023’s sequel “Ruthless Vows.” On Sept. 2, she released the prequel “Wild Reverence,” which gives fans a deeper look into the fantasy world’s gods and mortals and a whole new love story.

“So right now, the screenplay for ‘Divine Rivals’ is currently being written by Sofia Alvarez, and I’m so excited,” Ross told Variety. “I cannot wait to see what she comes up with. So this first movie is just ‘Divine Rivals.’ So if ‘Ruthless Vows’ also got adapted, it would be its own thing as well. So we’re looking at two movies, and who knows, if that series does really well and they want to adapt “Wild Reverence,” then we could have three films, potentially. But that’s looking way off in the future. It’s very exciting though, to have the chance to potentially have ‘Divine Rivals’ adapted. So I just feel like the stars have aligned and brought the best team together. So we shall see as we move forward.”

Ross said that movement should be coming “very, very soon,” adding: “Sofia had a certain number of weeks to write it, and so I feel like getting closer to the end of the year, her deadline for the script should be semi soon.”

While “Divine Rivals” and “Ruthless Vows” follows the love story of mortals Iris Winnow and Roman Kitt, “Wild Reverence” centers on the god Matilda, who holds the position as the divine messenger of the gods, delivering letters between the Skyward and Underling realms and the mortal world that lays betwixt the two. When Death asks Matilda to bring a letter to a mortal warning them of their impending end, she discovers the man, Vincent, is her long lost childhood friend who has grown into a lord working to protect his people from war.

See more from Variety‘s interview with Ross below.

By the end of “Wild Reverence,” we have Vincent and Matilda together at last — but never actually see them get formally married after so much time spent pretending to be married. Can you confirm for readers if a real wedding does take place after we leave them to live out their days?

Yeah, I think it’s safe to assume that with Vincent and Matilda, vows were eventually exchanged between the two of them. Because I think for Matilda, that is one thing that she really worries about: the fact that a vow can hold a god. But of course, she loves and trusts Vincent completely. I do see it eventually — like probably on their property, under an oak tree beside a river, they exchange their vows.

Does “Wild Reverence” mark the end of the “Letters of Enchantment” series for you, or are you open to returning to the world for another prequel or sequel?

So I never say never, so if I had another idea for this world, I would 100% do it. But it would almost have to nag me, like I can’t sleep at night cause I’m thinking about it. I’d have to have a really good plot to go along with it. And I do think Iris and Roman’s arc is complete, I just can’t see myself dragging them through another ordeal. But with building a fantasy world it’s fun because you do have all these different ideas that you can continue developing the world or this cast of characters, as well, you come to love. So I feel like it could happen. But I will say, at the moment, I’m working on a completely new series. It’s my next adult fantasy books. A whole new world, whole new characters that I’m very excited about.

How did you decide how many gods and goddesses to include in the book, and which would be the most prominent in Matilda’s story, like Bade?

I really, really enjoyed this aspect of the book, just being able to take readers deeper into both realms. I had to rein myself in a little bit, because I could have kept bringing up so many other gods and goddesses into the story and slowing it down tremendously. So, who are the ones that I feel like really need to make an appearance. But the way Bade came about was totally organic and then once I had found him, he was just so solid. I will say, one of my favorite tropes is like the big burly man traveling with a small, adorable child — I just love that so much. And “God of War” is one of my favorite video games ever: you have Kratos, this big, burly, emotionally-closed off man traveling with sweet, cute little Atreus. I just love it so much. So I think, like with Bade and Matilda, I could kind of envision the two of them, even though they’re not traveling, they have that dynamic.

Would you want to see one of your works adapted into a video game one day?

I would love that, that would definitely be a bucket list item. I love gaming, and a lot of times when I am on deadline, it’s usually so grueling and I feel like I’m Gollum in a cave because I’m just hunched over my laptop trying to write as many words as possible or revise. And then when I send the manuscript in, it’s such a relief and usually the next day, I will just stay in my pajamas and play video games all day. And that’s what I do to reward myself when I turn a book in and get off deadlines, like I’m just gonna play video games and just enjoy someone else’s creation. But I would love to see that.

This interview has been edited and condensed.