TimeLess Movie in Talks: A.F. Steadman’s New Fantasy Trilogy Draws Hollywood Interest

By Ahaqir Ishaq
October 18, 2026

A.F. Steadman’s move into adult fantasy is attracting Hollywood attention ahead of publication. Amazon MGM Studios, United Artists and Heyday Films are negotiating to acquire the film rights to TimeLess, according to TheWrap’s October 16 report.

The novel opens a planned trilogy from the Skandar author. For readers tracking a potential TimeLess movie, the key distinction is its status: the reported negotiations do not establish a completed deal or a production greenlight.

Who Is Involved in the Potential TimeLess Movie?

The report names Scott Stuber and Nick Nesbitt of United Artists alongside Heyday’s David Heyman and Jeffrey Clifford as producers, with Steadman attached to executive produce. Annie McCreery would oversee the project for United Artists.

That gives readers specific companies and filmmakers to follow as the story develops. However, the available report does not identify a director, screenwriter, cast, filming schedule or movie release date.

It also does not announce three films. A literary trilogy and a commissioned movie trilogy are separate commitments, and readers should avoid treating one as confirmation of the other.

What Is TimeLess About?

According to the official publisher synopsis, TimeLess follows Artemis, a 21-year-old who graduates at the top of her Cambridge assassin class.

She serves the Faculty, whose soldiers move outside ordinary chronology to defend history against time vandals. Her crew includes a navigator, an armourer, a historian and a medic.

Artemis’s certainty begins to fracture when she encounters an enemy who seems to have been waiting for her. Rather than kill him, she lets him live, putting her loyalties and understanding of her world under pressure.

The setup brings together time travel, institutional power and dangerous attraction. Based on that premise, the question that interests me most is how Artemis can judge the people she has been trained to obey. If protecting history requires unquestioning loyalty, what happens when the official account stops making sense?

That tension could give a screen adaptation an emotional center beyond its changing locations and action sequences. The spectacle might get viewers through the door; Artemis’s choices would need to make them care.

When Does the TimeLess Book Come Out?

The current publisher listings give different dates for the U.K. and U.S. hardcover editions:

The U.K. edition listing confirms the earlier date. American readers should use the U.S. date when planning their reading.

These are book publication dates. They do not indicate when a potential adaptation would reach theaters or streaming.

Is TimeLess Another Skandar Book?

TimeLess is marketed as Steadman’s first adult fantasy novel. Readers discovering it through Skandar should approach it as a separate starting point.

The distinction matters when choosing a book for a younger reader. Familiarity with an author’s children’s fiction does not automatically establish that their adult work suits the same audience.

For existing fans, the appeal is the opportunity to see how Steadman approaches a different readership. For newcomers, the first installment offers a way into her writing without catching up on the Skandar series.

Why the Premise Could Work on Screen

From an adaptation perspective, the crew structure stands out. Different specialties could give supporting characters meaningful roles in solving problems, rather than leaving every discovery and decision to Artemis.

The harder challenge would be clarity. A time-travel story needs viewers to understand what a choice might cost, even when they cannot predict its consequences. Establishing those stakes would matter as much as explaining how the characters travel.

I would also want an adaptation to preserve room for doubt. Artemis’s decision to spare an enemy sounds most compelling if viewers can understand her uncertainty without immediately knowing whether she is right.

Those are possibilities suggested by the premise, rather than details of an announced screenplay. There is no basis yet to describe which scenes, relationships or timelines a film would retain.

While waiting for more news, explore our best time-travel books for more stories that play with chronology.

Would you rather read TimeLess before seeing any adaptation, or wait to find out who joins the cast?

Disclosure: As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.

Planning to read the novel? Check TimeLess preorder options on Amazon.

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