Peter Guber and Mandalay Television have officially announced their plans to develop a TV series based on the popular Plated Prisoner series by Raven Kennedy. Guber, known for his work on classic films like Rain Man and Flashdance, will be heading the project alongside Mandalay executive Vanessa Johnston.
The first book in the Plated Prisoner series, Gild, was self-published by Raven Kennedy in 2020 and introduces readers to a new take on the ancient story of King Midas, who could turn everything he touched to gold. The series centers around Auren, a twenty-five-year-old woman who King Midas saved from the slums, turned to gold, and brought to his palace in Highbell. With everything but the whites of her eyes and her teeth gold, Auren gives the king her heart and is kept safely locked in a cage, deep within Midas’ palace, but when war comes to the kingdom and a deal is struck, Auren’s trust is broken and her love challenged as she realizes “everything I thought I knew about Midas might be wrong,” per the official book synopsis.
As she’s forced to experience the world outside her gilded cage, Auren finds that what’s waiting for her on the other side may make her wish she never left the cage at all.
Beyond Gild, the Plated Prisoner series continues with Glint, published in January 2021, Gleam in May 2021, and Glow in June 2022, with the fifth and final installment in the series, Gold, currently scheduled for release in June 2023.
The ‘Plated Prisoner’ Series to be Adapted by Peter Guber
The television adaptation of Raven Kennedy’s novels is set to be developed by Mandalay Television, headed by former Sony Pictures boss Peter Guber, whose credits include Flashdance (1983), The Color Purple (1985), Rain Man (1988), and more recently, the TV miniseries The Last Dance (2020) and I Know What You Did Last Summer (2021). Mandalay Television Development Executive Vanessa Johnston will head the adaptation of the Plated Prisoner series.
Regarding the development of the Plated Prisoner TV adaptation, Johnston told Deadline the following:
