Joey King to Star in and Executive-Produce Netflix's 'Uglies' Based on Dystopian YA Novel

Joey King has found her next starring role.

On Tuesday, Netflix announced that the 21-year-old actress will star in and executive-produce a film adaptation of Uglies, the first installment in Scott Westerfeld's dystopian YA book series.

Set to be directed by McG (The Babysitter), the popular book series follows a futuristic world where everyone goes through government-ordered surgeries at the age of 16 to conform them to society's beauty standards and become "Pretties".

However, protagonist Tally Youngblood discovers that there are hidden secrets about the procedure and attempts to discover them before it's her turn to go under the knife.

King reacted to the casting news on her Instagram Story, where she shared a screenshot of the report from Deadline before she wrote a note about what the casting meant to her. It has not officially been announced who King will play.

"The Uglies really shaped my love of reading when I was younger," she wrote. "To put it lightly...I'm losing my s--- that I get to bring this story to life."

She added, "Thank you @scott_westerfeld for allowing myself and @netflix to bring the adventures of Tally Youngblood and her friends to life. I might have som SpagBol tonight to celebrate. let's go to the Rusty Ruins my fellow Uglies fanatics!"

Additional casting and an expected release date for the film have yet to be announced.

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The science fiction novel first debuted in 2005 and was later succeeded by three more books: Pretties, Specials, and Extras.

In 2018, Westerfeld announced plans for four new books set in the same universe, in a new series called Impostors.

"[The Impostors series takes] place in the Uglies future, after Tally’s revolution has changed everything," Westerfeld revealed in a blog post, referencing Uglies' original protagonist.

Per the post, Tally is now an adult in the new series, where she is still included in the world, but not as a point-of-view character.

King — who started acting professionally when she was just 4 years old — recently starred in Netflix's The Kissing Booth 2 and Hulu's The Act, the latter of which earned her Emmy, Golden Globe, and SAG Award nominations.

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Coming up, the young actress is also scheduled to lead an adaptation of Jodi Picoult's A Spark of Light, which is currently in development, and is attached to Sony's Brad Pitt movie, Bullet Train.

Elsewhere, King will also star in the third installment of Netflix's popular rom-com franchise, The Kissing Booth, which was filmed in secret alongside the second film in the series in South Africa.

The movie is already in post-production and set to premiere in 2021. The entire cast — including King, Joel Courtney, Jacob Elordi, Taylor Zakhar Perez and Molly Ringwald — will be returning for the next installment.