Development and Production

Conception

In 2011, Monroe Hayden met fellow artists and entrepreneur's Brandon Teague and Xavier Haven. They worked together on the Daisy novel series and the three of them became great friends. Each member of the tripod, in the books, represents one of them but none had revealed who is who. By 2014, Haven sold the novel and its rights to Hayden and Teague in the event of his daughter's birth. Hayden and Teague then started their production company, Hayden/Teague and began developments on converting Daisy into a series.

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Daisy writer, Xavier Haven explained on his Facebook and Deviantart that he partially owns the rights to Daisy after selling it to Monroe Hayden and Brandon Teague who were original artists for the series. They later created Hayden/Teague LLC..

With Monroe Hayden owning the rights, characters and story, she and business partner, Adriana Escandon , who together made A&S Productions decided to create a prequel to the books and were the ones to give Mina Abrams a name and created new character, Alexander Veitch . Mina was in the books as a very minor character who had a similar experience to Daisy Peterson with a mysterious dream girl, however, Peterson's experience in the show differs from the ending in the books. Hayden and Escandon, with Haven, agreed to make Abrams the same character. 

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In 2015, Teague died of a blood infection which left Hayden with the responsibilities of the company. She often sought advice from Haven. In 2016, Fox (2016) premiered in January. Upon the show's premiere, Teague's family requested the company name be changed. Hayden then changed the name to SkySoft Entertainment.

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Casting

Writer Xavier Haven revealed on his Facebook that he wrote the character of Fox with Monroe Hayden in mind, and suggested she play the role but Hayden was unsure of the task since the character wasn't too developed in the books, and seemed "boring". Teague and Haven seriously considered her for the role of Mina Abrams but both weren't confident in the idea. In result, Haven suggested Hayden help develop the character and help write the first season with Fox having a dark side to her. Finding this intriguing, Hayden created a small Guide describing the world of Gan Adan, its histories and beings, with Fox having inherited a darkness from her mother. Haven and Teague liked the idea and offered her the role in which she accepted. In late 2017, Hayden chose a cutlass sword that she was unaware was made specifically for left-handed swordsman. In result, Hayden spent 6-months additional training to use her left hand just to use that specific sword.

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As of April 21, 2014, the creators of the show, Fox, released teaser posters suggesting that Mina was a lot more innocent than the version depicted in the books. Xavier Haven also revealed, shortly before, that the series sets as a prequel to the Daisy series. Mina was initially to be portrayed by Instragram model, Alexis Naiomi, but she unexpectedly left the production. Her photos were released with her as Mina Abrams for promotion before her departure. On July 11, 2015, A&S Productions announced that actress Allyson Moyer won the role of Mina Abrams.

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Melanie Tornroth was cast to play Daisy Peterson in season 2 and although both fans and critics praised her version of the character and interaction with Hayden, she did not return for the remaining seasons. At San Diego Comic Con in 2017, Hayden had revealed the news saying, "she was unavailable". In result, SkySoft had auditioned 107 actresses for the role with Carla Ricci cast as the character but after two days filming, Ricci dropped out due to personal issues that would prevent her from finishing the series. 46 more actresses were auditioned with Jade Vourkari earning the role and portraying Daisy Peterson for the remaining seasons. Vourkari revealed in a podcast interview, Beyond the Page with Daniel Andrade, that the audition process consisted of two parts: interviews and boot camp. In the following months, Hayden revealed that the interview portion was conducted to see if Vourkari's personality fit well with the rest of the cast members, while the boot camp portion was conducted to see if she could perform the stunts required of her. The boot camp consisted of an introduction to fencing and sparring which she then was assigned to spar with Hayden and Janelle Garcia during the audition. Once she won the role, she was introduced to archery and revealed that the bow held 25lbs to 30lbs of pressure in which she had to "develop muscles" to pull it as far back as she does in the show, over and over, take after take.

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Filming

Principal photography for the series took place in San Diego, California. Coronado the resort city across from San Diego Bay doubles as Fortmount for the series while Mission Trails Regional Park served as the setting for Gan Adan in season 2, and Cleveland National Forest as the setting in seasons 3 and 4.