UGLIES First Look: Joey King, Keith Powers, & Chase Stokes Take on a Dystopian YA Classic (Exclusive)

Welcome to Uglyville. After years of development, the UGLIES film adaptation is finally coming to Netflix this fall — and Teen Vogue has your exclusive first look at the long-awaited dystopian tale.

UGLIES is based on the 2005 YA sci-fi novel of the same name written by Scott Westerfeld, who went on to complete the trilogy with Pretties and Specials in fall 2005 and spring 2006. The story follows protagonist Tally Youngblood, a teen who lives in a futuristic world that imposes a cosmetic surgery at age 16 to transform young people from “Ugly” to a socially-accepted “Pretty.”

futuristic world that imposes a cosmetic surgery at age 16 to transform young people from “Ugly” to a socially-accepted “Pretty.”

Per the film adaptation’s official logline, “Tally is eager for her turn to join the rest of society. But when a friend runs away, Tally embarks on a journey to save her that upends everything she thought she wanted.” Joey King stars as Tally and is joined by key costars Keith Powers (The Perfect Find), Chase Stokes (Outer Banks), Brianne Tju (Light as a Feather), Jan Luis (13 Reasons Why), Charmin Lee (The Chi), and none other than Laverne Cox.

In 2022, Joey King called playing Tally “a dream realized.” “The Uglies books meant a lot to me as a kid,” she told Deadline at the time. “Being able to make that and be the lead of those movies and also have so much fun while doing it… I was 11-years-old when I feel in love with the books.”

Welcome to Uglyville. After years of development, the UGLIES film adaptation is finally coming to Netflix this fall — and Teen Vogue has your exclusive first look at the long-awaited dystopian tale.

UGLIES is based on the 2005 YA sci-fi novel of the same name written by Scott Westerfeld, who went on to complete the trilogy with Pretties and Specials in fall 2005 and spring 2006. The story follows protagonist Tally Youngblood, a teen who lives in a futuristic world that imposes a cosmetic surgery at age 16 to transform young people from “Ugly” to a socially-accepted “Pretty.”

Per the film adaptation’s official logline, “Tally is eager for her turn to join the rest of society. But when a friend runs away, Tally embarks on a journey to save her that upends everything she thought she wanted.” Joey King stars as Tally and is joined by key costars Keith Powers (The Perfect Find), Chase Stokes (Outer Banks), Brianne Tju (Light as a Feather), Jan Luis (13 Reasons Why), Charmin Lee (The Chi), and none other than Laverne Cox.

In 2022, Joey King called playing Tally “a dream realized.” “The Uglies books meant a lot to me as a kid,” she told Deadline at the time. “Being able to make that and be the lead of those movies and also have so much fun while doing it… I was 11-years-old when I feel in love with the books.”

Both King and author Scott Westerfeld are credited as executive producers on the film; UGLIES is written by Jacob Forman, Vanessa Taylor, and Whit Anderson and directed by filmmaker McG, popularly known for his works Charlie’s Angels, We Are Marshall, The DUFF, and The Babysitter.

“I’m absolutely thrilled to share UGLIES with the world,” director McG tells Teen Vogue exclusively. “I feel like the message of the film is timelier than ever. With our contemporary society so obsessed with image, what a great message this movie shares that beauty is interior, and it’s who we are on the inside that counts. All in a film packed with action, romance, and adventure.”

Fans of the YA novel have been waiting for the book to get its due for nearly two decades — and now, the highly-anticipated adaptation will arrive on Netflix on September 13, 2024.

“I hope the world creation is most exciting for the fandom,” McG continues. “There are three distinct worlds that represent Smokies, Uglies, and Pretties. It’s dystopic and original, and so fun to live in.”

We see peeks of these distinct worlds in the first images from the movie, with Joey King and Chase Stokes sitting before the gorgeous, utopian skyline of New Pretty Town — and while we don’t have official confirmation yet, fans of the book will likely recognize the woods setting as the Smoke, and Keith Powers’s costuming suggests he could very well be the rebel David.

19 years after the book’s original publish date, we now live in a digital age and exist within a society that are both incredibly harsh on the self-image of young people, and, specifically young women. Though mandated cosmetic surgery is not our current reality… we may not have to suspend our belief as much as we did back in 2005 to imagine it possible.

“I noticed when anyone posts a picture on TikTok, Snapchat, or Instagram, they use filtration to enhance what they actually look like,” says McG. “This is fun for a while, but when it gets overboard you lose authenticity. This film is about a return to humanity and accepting ourselves for who we really are.”