Alyssa McKay is set to star in The Royals of Malibu, a scripted audio adaptation of author Erin Watt‘s New York Times bestselling romance novel Paper Princess.
Produced by New York City-based Diversion Audio, The Royals of Malibu follows 17-year-old Ella Sinclair (that’s McKay), a down-on-her-luck high schooler struggling to support herself. When she’s de facto adopted by wealthy single dad Callum Royal (Armen Taylor) and swept away to live in Malibu with him and his two sons Reed and Easton (real-life brothers Chris and Nick Cafero, respectively), she is “determined to come through it all with her soul intact,” per an official description.
McKay is a cross-platform content creator and longtime aspiring actress. She’s known on TikTok (where she has 10 million followers) and YouTube (1.2 million subscribers) for her “rich girl” character—a persona she invented as both wish fulfillment and acting practice.
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The Royals of Malibu is her first major role.
“I am incredibly excited to partner with Diversion to bring to life ‘The Royals of Malibu‘ and the podcast’s main character, Ella Sinclair, to whom I feel a deep connection,” McKay said in a statement. “I was able to bring my followers along with me in real-time through the recording process and it has been so much fun to introduce a new audience to the fiction podcast genre. This show is dramatic, witty, and very steamy, so it has something to offer everyone.”
Emma DeMuth, who’s producing the series for Diversion Audio, said McKay is “an incredibly talented actress I knew through her creative work on TikTok, and we’re thrilled to have her as our lead.”
“The show has already seen massive fan engagement with Alyssa’s diehard fans and we can’t wait for listeners everywhere to fall in love with ‘The Royals of Malibu,'” DeMuth added.
A one-minute trailer for the 13-episode series (embedded above) debuted Jan. 25. Listening activity for that trailer alone has driven The Royals of Malibu to the No. 2 spot in fiction on Apple Podcasts, and No. 3 in fiction on Spotify.
The show’s first three episodes drop Feb. 6.
