Uma Thurman Is The President In A New Amazon Drama

Uma Thurman will play the first female President of the United States in an upcoming Amazon adaption of a hit novel.

By Nathan Kamal | Published

This article is more than 2 years old

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Uma Thurman has been cast as the President of the United States in the upcoming Amazon Prime Video film Red, White, and Royal Blue. The movie is an adaptation of the popular LGBTQIA+ book of the same title by Casey McQuiston and follows the son of the first female president as he meets and falls in love with the son of a member of the British Royal Family. Per Deadline, there is not yet a release date for the film, which is set to be directed by playwright Matthew Lopez and will be filmed in the United Kingdom. 

In the film, Uma Thurman will be portraying Ellen Claremont, the first female US president, while her son Alex Claremont-Diaz will be played by Taylor Zakhar Perez. In true romance novel fashion, the American protagonist of the story first meets his British counterpart Prince Henry Fox-Mountchristen-Windsor (to be played by Nicholas Galitzine) under hostile circumstances and has to pretend to be friendly with him. Through the course of the narrative, the two bond as friends, then as potential romantic partners, while also dealing with the awareness that their sexual orientations and relationship could potentially affect Uma Thurman’s political career and probably something about the British line of succession as well. 

In addition to Uma Thurman, the film adaptation of Red, White, and Royal Blue will also star Clifton Collins Jr., Sarah Shahi, Rachel Hilson, Ellie Bamber, and Stephen Fry. Fry in particular is known for his involvement in LGBTQIA+ films; in 1997, he starred in the film Wilde, portraying 19th-century author and gay icon Oscar Wilde. 

Red, White, and Royal Blue was first published in 2019 and quickly became a LGBTQIA+ sensation. The novel received a number of awards, including the 2020 Alex Award and a 2019 Goodreads Choice Award. It also landed on the New York Times Bestseller List. Author Casey Mcquiston has said they were open to writing a sequel to the hit novel, and possibly spin-offs set within the same world, which will no doubt thrill fans. 

In 2022, Uma Thurman will be starring in another YA film, the upcoming Hollywood Stargirl; it is a sequel to 2020’s Stargirl, which starred Grace VanderWaal as the free-spirited title character. Somewhat confusingly, while Stargirl was based on a novel by Jerry Spinelli which has a sequel, Hollywood Stargirl will be an original story utilizing existing characters but not based on the sequel material. Also in 2022, she will be starring the Apple TV+ thriller serious Suspicion (itself adapted from the Israeli series False Flag) and in the Showtime anthology serious Super Pumped as Huffington Post founder Ariana Huffington.


Uma Thurman is best known to audiences for her collaborations with filmmaker Quentin Tarantino, Pulp Fiction and Kill Bill: Volumes 1 & 2. She also starred in the cult science fiction Gattaca with former husband Ethan Hawke and the notoriously campy comic book adaptation Batman & Robin as Poison Ivy. The film adaptation of Red, White, and Royal Blue will be part of Amazon Prime Video’s ever-growing slate of films and shows as it grows more prominent in the streaming content marketplace.