Former child queen Elida was driven from her throne at age ten and forced to wander the galaxy, evading the revolutionary forces that wanted her dead. When an old frenemy claims to know the whereabouts of Elida’s long-lost mother, she is forced to return to her former kingdom and stage a rescue.
Now, Vagrant Queen returns as a television series from SYFY! The live-action adaptation of the galactic series will be produced by Blue Ice Pictures and includes an all-female team of writers and directors with Jem Garrard as creator and showrunner.
Adryian Rae (Light as a Feather) will play the lead role of Elida with Tim Rozon (Diggstown) as Isaac, and Paul du Toit (Maze Runner) as the menacing Commander Lazaro. Critics have described the adaptation as “fun, violent, snarky, space opera.”
Deadline reported the official synopsis of the series as follows:
Vagrant Queen follows Elida from child queen to orphaned outcast, as she scavenges the treacherous corners of the galaxy, always one step ahead of the Republic government out to extinguish her bloodline. When her old friend Isaac shows up claiming her mother Xevelyn is still alive, they head off with their new ally, Amae, to stage a rescue that will take her back into the perilous heart of her former kingdom and up against a
deadly foe from her childhood, Commander Lazaro.
Originally written by Eisner-nominated and GLAAD Media Award-nominated author Magdelene Visaggio, illustrator Jason Smith, colorist Harry Saxon, and letterer Zakk Saam, the VAGRANT QUEEN graphic novel is available everywhere from Vault Comics. See what Visaggio had to say about the series upon it's release in 2019.
For those who are not familiar, could you tell us what Vagrant Queen is about? What kind of experience do readers get when they pick up this book?
MV: The book stars Elida Al-feyr, who used to be the child queen of the planet Arriopa before she was pushed out in a spate of revolutionary violence. Now, fifteen years later, she’s on the run from the revolutionaries that overthrew her and her own loyal, worshipful supporters; she just wants to move on from a conflict that has defined her entire life, but finds she just can’t get away from it.
And now she not only has to return to the world she once ruled, but has to go deep, deep into enemy territory to rescue the most important person in the world to her: her long-captured mother.
What was the inspiration behind Vagrant Queen?
MV: Mostly Star Wars, I guess, and Cowboy Bebop. On the Road. Really anything about skuzzy cowboys in space doing their best to get by. I’m also a giant history nerd, which is why this whole thing is set against the backdrop of an ersatz French Revolution. There’s so many princesses who need rescuing; I wanted to do one who was just on the run, who wasn’t trying to be
restored to anything. So much of space opera is about restoring some kind of proper order during a period of disruption, while Vagrant Queen is much more about moving on and recognizing that the past wasn’t perfect. Everyone in that story is trying to escape their past.
Vagrant Queen is a self-contained story, but is there hope for more adventures in the future?
MV: As Spock would say, there are always possibilities.
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