A forbidden romance becomes considerably more complicated when everyone involved competes in the same high-pressure professional environment.
That is the premise behind Throttled, Amazon MGM Studios' upcoming film based on the first novel in Lauren Asher's Dirty Air series.
The production has now added Rome Flynn to its cast.
According to an October 29 report by Deadline's Rosy Cordero, Flynn will portray Jax Kingston, an ambitious and highly competitive racing driver associated with Team McCoy.
Jax has a particularly intense rivalry with Noah Slade, played by Josh Heuston.
The casting gives the film another established character from Asher's literary world.
It also expands the competitive environment surrounding the central relationship between Noah and Maya Alatorre, who will be portrayed by Nicole Wallace.
Flynn joins a cast that also includes Julio Peña and Mia McKenna-Bruce.
Rome Flynn takes on Jax Kingston
Jax Kingston is already familiar to readers of the Dirty Air novels.
He belongs to the world of professional motorsport and possesses a reputation for competitiveness.
In the film, he will race for Team McCoy and maintain a difficult rivalry with Noah Slade.
That conflict adds another dimension to the story's sporting relationships.
Noah already has a complicated professional connection with Santiago Alatorre, the brother of his romantic interest.
Jax introduces another competitor with a personal reason to challenge Noah.
Flynn is known for his work on The Bold and the Beautiful, in which he portrayed Zende Forrester Dominguez.
His performance earned him a Daytime Emmy Award in 2018.
He later played Gabriel Maddox in How to Get Away with Murder.
More recently, he portrayed Frank Lucas in the fourth season of Godfather of Harlem, alongside Forest Whitaker.
The role brought him into a crime drama involving historical figures and complicated power relationships.
Throttled will place him in a different environment, where athletic ambition and romantic tensions shape the characters' decisions.
His new character also holds a notable position in the original book series.
Why Jax Kingston matters beyond the first novel
Lauren Asher's Dirty Air series consists of four interconnected romances.
Throttled follows Maya Alatorre and Noah Slade.
Collided focuses on Sophie Mitchell and Liam Zander.
Wrecked places Jax Kingston at the center of a romance with Elena Gonzalez.
Redeemed tells the story of Santiago Alatorre and Chloe Carter.
Each installment features a different romantic relationship while maintaining connections to the same motorsport community.
That structure gives Flynn's casting an additional significance for readers.
Jax is not merely an original supporting character created to complicate the movie's first romance.
He has an established storyline in a later book.
However, this does not mean that Amazon MGM Studios has officially commissioned an adaptation of Wrecked.
The company has announced Throttled, not a complete four-film franchise.
Introducing Jax in the first movie creates potential continuity, but a possible future opportunity is not the same as an approved sequel.
Flynn's confirmed involvement concerns this adaptation.
Nicole Wallace and Josh Heuston lead the romance
The film's main storyline follows Maya Alatorre and Noah Slade.
Maya is an ambitious young woman who joins her older brother, Santiago, on the professional racing circuit.
She soon becomes attracted to Noah, a talented driver whose relationship with Santiago is already complicated.
The two men are teammates but also fierce sporting rivals.
That creates an uncomfortable situation for Maya, whose developing feelings may clash with family loyalties.
Nicole Wallace, best known for the Prime Video romance My Fault and its sequels, will portray Maya.
Her previous role as Noah Morgan introduced her to a large international audience through another bestselling literary adaptation.
Josh Heuston has been cast as Noah Slade.
The Australian actor has appeared in Dune: Prophecy and Prime Video's Off Campus, another adaptation aimed at fans of contemporary romance.
The pairing brings together two performers who already have experience with emotionally charged ensemble storytelling.
Their onscreen chemistry will be essential to a movie whose central conflict depends on the tension between attraction, competition and family relationships.
Julio Peña plays Maya's older brother
Julio Peña will portray Santiago Alatorre, usually known as Santi.
He is Maya's older brother and an established driver on the racing circuit.
His difficult relationship with Noah provides one of the major complications surrounding Maya's romantic choices.
She is not simply falling for a stranger who happens to compete in the same sport.
She is developing feelings for someone whose ambitions and professional rivalries directly involve her family.
Peña is best known internationally for Netflix's Through My Window trilogy, based on the novels by Ariana Godoy.
His previous work therefore connects him to the same broad audience of contemporary romance adaptations as Wallace.
The two actors have different roles in Throttled, but their casting reflects Amazon's interest in performers already familiar to viewers of the genre.
Mia McKenna-Bruce joins as Sophie Mitchell
Mia McKenna-Bruce was announced as another cast member on October 26.
The British actress will portray Sophie Mitchell, Maya's best friend.
Sophie is also important in Asher's wider literary series.
She becomes one of the central characters in Collided, the second Dirty Air novel.
McKenna-Bruce received major attention for her performance in How to Have Sex, which earned her the EE Rising Star Award at the 2024 BAFTAs.
Her casting adds a performer known for emotionally detailed dramatic work.
For readers, Sophie's arrival offers another connection to later novels.
For the film itself, her confirmed role is that of Maya's friend.
The extent of her screen time and the specific events involving her character have not yet been publicly detailed.
As with Jax Kingston, her presence does not establish that a film adaptation of her own book has been approved.
Director Nzingha Stewart reunites with Flynn
Nzingha Stewart is directing Throttled from a screenplay by Melissa Osborne.
Stewart has worked across television and film, including episodes of Daisy Jones & The Six.
Her experience includes stories centered on ambition, relationships and the ways professional pressures can complicate personal lives.
The project will also reunite her with Rome Flynn.
The two previously worked together on Apple TV+'s Imperfect Women, in which Flynn played Jordan.
That prior collaboration gives the actor and director an established professional connection.
It does not determine how Jax will be portrayed, but it means the pair have already worked together within a dramatic television production.
Osborne, meanwhile, is adapting Asher's novel for the screen.
Her credits include My Fault: London, another romance based on a popular book.
The screenplay must translate the novel's emotional tension into a visual narrative.
Internal thoughts, jealousy and attraction often occupy substantial space in romantic fiction.
On screen, those elements depend more directly on performance, dialogue, editing and the relationships established between characters.
Motorsport gives the romance an unusual setting
Throttled is not simply a romance that happens to feature cars.
The professional racing environment is central to the characters' conflicts.
Noah Slade and Santiago Alatorre are linked by their team but divided by competition.
Jax Kingston introduces another driver with his own rivalry against Noah.
That means romantic decisions can potentially affect professional relationships and personal loyalties.
The racing world also provides a distinctive visual environment.
Paddocks, garages, international travel and the intensity of competition can all contribute to the atmosphere of a motorsport drama.
However, the producers have not confirmed the precise circuits, real racing teams or technical arrangements that will appear in the finished film.
It would therefore be premature to announce specific race locations or partnerships.
What is established is the central combination of a high-stakes racing environment and a forbidden romantic relationship.
Elizabeth Banks produces for Amazon MGM
Amazon MGM Studios is developing the feature for worldwide distribution through Prime Video.
Elizabeth Banks and Max Handelman are producing through Brownstone Productions.
Jennifer Gibgot and Andrew Panay are involved through Ethea Entertainment, with Garrett Grant also producing.
Alison Small and author Lauren Asher serve as executive producers.
Asher's involvement gives the original writer a formal role in the film's production.
It should not be confused with writing the screenplay or directing the adaptation.
Those responsibilities belong to Melissa Osborne and Nzingha Stewart respectively.
Amazon's acquisition of worldwide rights reflects continued interest in adapting widely read romance novels for streaming audiences.
The film also follows the broader popularity of sports romances, where athletic competition and personal relationships provide intertwined storylines.
The production's eventual success, however, cannot be established before it has been released.
Four Dirty Air books, but only one confirmed film
The interconnected structure of Asher's series provides a natural opportunity for additional adaptations.
Each novel follows a different couple while keeping the same professional environment and recurring characters.
That allows later protagonists to appear in supporting roles before their own stories become central.
The casting of both Sophie Mitchell and Jax Kingston reflects that structure.
Both characters are significant beyond the first book.
Nevertheless, Amazon MGM Studios has not announced production orders for Collided, Wrecked or Redeemed.
The possibility of further films remains a reasonable creative consideration, but it is not a confirmed studio plan.
The immediate objective is adapting Throttled and establishing its characters.
Any decision about sequels would require a separate announcement.
When will Throttled arrive on Prime Video?
No official release date has been announced for Throttled.
Amazon MGM Studios has secured worldwide rights, with the feature intended for Prime Video.
The casting announcements made throughout September and October have gradually identified the principal actors and several supporting performers.
Those developments do not establish a completed filming schedule or a confirmed date for post-production.
There is also no official trailer or released collection of stills showing the cast in character.
Current promotional coverage primarily uses photographs from the performers' previous work and public appearances.
The next significant updates will concern production progress, first-look imagery and the streaming release schedule.
For now, the October 29 development is clear: Rome Flynn will bring Jax Kingston into the film's racing world.
His arrival adds another rivalry for Noah Slade while establishing a character whose literary history extends into a later Dirty Air novel.
Whether Throttled becomes the beginning of a larger screen franchise remains uncertain.
But its ensemble is increasingly taking shape, with familiar romance stars, an experienced creative team and a motorsport setting designed to keep its characters competing both on and off the track.
