Academy Award-nominated writer Kirsten Sheridan, known for her recent work on FX's Say Nothing, has been tapped to direct a feature film about Grace O'Malley, regarded as a formidable Irish pirate cum rebel from the sixteenth century. Sheridan, filmmaker Jim Sheridan's daughter, has secured the rights to adapt Anne Chambers's Grace O'Malley — The Biography of Ireland's Pirate Queen. The Screen Ireland-supported project is set to be bankrolled by Wild Atlantic Pictures in partnership with Reclaim Entertainment Ventures. It is expected to go on floors next year.

Sheridan, whose past work includes an Oscar nomination for co-writing the semi-autobiographical In America with her sibling Naomi Sheridan and their father, as well as directorial credits for August Rush and Disco Pigs," has long been developing this feature in collaboration with Chambers.

The film will depict the remarkable historical encounter between Queen Elizabeth I and O'Malley, also known as Granuaile. The narrative centers on O'Malley's audacious voyage over the Thames River to confront the Queen after her youngest son gets imprisoned. The story unfolds over a week, exploring the complex dynamic between these two powerful women that contributes to them shaping not only their nations' destinies but also their own personal identities.