Margot Robbie on Sarah J. Maas and Her ACOTAR Obsession (Exclusive)

Jenna Rosenstein

September 12, 2024 at 10:00 PM·3 min read

margot robbie sarah j maas acotar book interview — Margot Robbie on Sarah J. Maas and ACOTARGetty Images

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Earlier this year, in bookish corners of the internet where the phrases “to the stars who listen” and “what did Lorcan do?” make complete and total sense, chaos ensued thanks to a single photo of Margot Robbie. The candid image showed the actor and producer having a coffee date with the back of someone’s head. But fans of Sarah J. Maas would recognize the author anywhere. And a photo of her meeting with the Barbie star and producer? It set the fandoms of her fantasy series—A Court of Thorns and Roses, Throne of Glass, and Crescent City—on fire. Naturally, I had to ask Robbie about said meeting when I sat with her earlier this week to discuss her new Chanel No. 5 campaign.

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It’s hard to contextualize just how much of a global phenomenon Maas and her addictive books have become. The 38-year-old author has sold over 38 million copies of her epic fantasy novels, which have found even more fanatically devoted readers thanks to the rise of #BookTok. Plans for a Hulu adaptation of Maas’s most popular series, A Court of Thorns and Roses—an ongoing romantasy series that goes by the acronym ACOTAR—were first announced in 2021. Since then, news of the show has stalled, and Outlander series creator and showrunner Ronald D. Moore announced his departure from the project in July. Variety reports that the future of ACOTAR at Hulu is “murky.” Could Robbie, who champions strong female stories through her production company LuckyChap Entertainment, be the answer fans are hoping for?

After talking to Robbie about her work on the upcoming Chanel campaign film See You at 5, I ask if there is anything she can tell us about that viral coffee date with Maas. “I’m beyond obsessed. She’s the coolest. You know she’s in her 30s? She’s also a genius,” Robbie says. “We’ve become friends. It’s like, oh, you’re like all my girls—I love it.”

Her favorite of Maas’s 16 best-selling books? Robbie says she’s read “all of them, like, a million times over” but is partial to the first ACOTAR novel, which gave the series its name. “I think ACOTAR was my like way in, so that’s always, I don’t know—it’s tough,” she says. “I really couldn’t say—God, it’s like picking a favorite child. They’re all perfect.”

Before our time is up, I just have to put it out there: If there were anything Robbie could do, from a production standpoint, to make a Maasiverse TV or movie adaptation happen, fans—myself included—would welcome it with open arms and wallets. “We all need that—the world needs that,” she laughs. “I’ll see what I can do.”