Being optioned for a screen adaptation is part of the life cycle of any hit novel. Most of the time, the options expire before the coffee has cooled on the many development meetings, and nothing happens, but not for the books below – they’re the lucky ones. Or…the unlucky ones, depending on how some of these movies and TV shows turn out.
There’s no reason for pessimism, especially considering the people involved. Guillermo del Toro, Bong Joon-Ho, the Russo Brothers and more are behind the movie and TV adaptations of these new and classic sci-fi and fantasy books. Netflix and Apple TV+ are stumping up a lot of the cash required to translate these space-set, time travel and magical realist stories to screen.
Find out what’s coming up below. After all, how are you supposed to walk out of a cinema saying “the book was better” if you haven’t read it first?
BRZRKR by Keanu Reeves, Matt Kindt & Ron Garney (2021)
Not everybody was thrilled about BRZRKR launching on Kickstarter instead of via the usual channels; if Hollywood star Keanu Reeves had to crowdfund to get a new comic book title away, then what chance do mere mortals have? This brutally violent series was a hit, and now boasts three volumes plus spinoffs (including a novel by China Miéville).
A little thin in the story department but terrific looking, BRZRKR is about an immortal demi-God employed to fight the US government’s bloodiest battles while he tries to solve the mystery of his origins (largely by ripping people’s arms off). Extreme, gory, cool and not for the weak-stomached, the comics are becoming a live-action Netflix movie starring Reeves in the lead role, plus a two-season Production I.G. anime series. Terminator: Zero’s Mattson Tomlin has written the movie screenplay and will showrun the anime.
Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus by Mary Shelley (1818)
A scientist playing God, a creature shunned by mankind… Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein is unfamiliar to no-one, but is such a potent story that filmmakers still can’t resist it. Guillermo del Toro (Pinocchio, The Shape of Water, Pan’s Labyrinth) has been trying to make his Frankenstein for decades now, and thanks to his Netflix deal, it’s finally happening. Cast-wise, he’s booked the buzzy Jacob Elordi (Priscilla, Euphoria) to play the Creature, with Oscar Isaac (Dune, Ex Machina) as Dr Frankenstein, alongside Christoph Waltz, Mia Goth and more. Filming began in 2024 so don’t expect to see this until next year.
Mickey7 by Edward Ashton (2022)
Parasite director Bong Joon-Ho continues his class and capitalism theme in this adaptation of Edward Ashton’s Mickey7 (retitled Mickey 17 for the screen). It’s the story of a space worker who signs up for dangerous colonisation tasks on an alien planet that will kill him, but each time he dies, his consciousness is uploaded to his next clone. That anti-Capitalist premise alone makes it the perfect choice for the South Korean writer-director’s follow-up to his Best Picture-winner.
Robert Pattinson plays the titular lead Mickey, alongside Naomi Ackie (who is excellent, incidentally, in recent horror Blink Twice), Mark Ruffalo, Toni Collette, Steven Yeun and more. Originally set for release in 2024, expect to see this one at the end of January 2025.
Nightbitch by Rachel Yoder (2021)
Nightbitch joins Room, Tully, Prevenge and more as an inventive and darkly satirical look at early-years motherhood. Adapted from Rachel Yoder’s debut novel, it’s about a frustrated, isolated and exhausted stay-at-home mother (played in the movie by Arrival and American Hustle’s Amy Adams) who starts transforming into a dog. Adapted and directed by The Diary of a Teenage Girl and The Queen’s Gambit’s Marielle Heller, it’s due out in December 2024. See the first trailer here.
Neuromancer by William Gibson (1984)
It says a lot about how ludicrously ahead of his time William Gibson’s vision of the future was, that his 1980s future-tech novels can be adapted now and still not feel like clunky anachronisms. Apple TV+ already made one Gibson adaptation with the Chloe Moretz-starring The Peripheral, a show whose second season was sadly cancelled following pandemic and strike-related delays. The streamer’s next attempt is Neuromancer, adapted from Gibson’s seminal cyberpunk debut novel of the same name. The first in his Sprawl series, it’s the story of a cyberhacker, a virtual reality space, augmented humans, a data heist and the US military being shady – all the Gibson stalwarts. The 10-episode TV series was greenlit in early 2024, and is set to star Callum Turner and Brianna Middleton as the leads, with Graham Roland (Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan, Fringe) and Utopia and The Outsider director J.D. Dillard.
Uglies by Scott Westerfeld (2005)
Scott Westerfeld’s YA novel Uglies was published three years before The Hunger Games, but that won’t stop people crying ‘rip-off’ about this film adaptation – which, admittedly, likely only exists due to the success of Katniss Everdeen on screen. Westerfeld’s quartet of novels takes place in a future world where looks are everything, and the slightest deviation from beauty norms is erased by a surgical procedure that transforms “Uglies” into “Pretties”. Young hero Tally is on the eve of her own procedure when she’s given the choice between staying in the primped and superficial Pretties world, or venturing with some fellow rebels into the wilderness known as The Smoke. Guess what she chooses. Uglies is directed by The Mortal Instruments and Terminator: Salvation‘s McG and comes to Netflix on Friday September 13. Watch the trailer here.
The Electric State by Simon Stålenhag (2018)
Originally expected to stream on Netflix in early 2024, this Russo Brothers-directed film is currently without an exact release date but due around March 2025. It’s adapted from Swedish artist Simon Stålenhag’s third book (after Tales from the Loop and Things from the Flood) of retro-futurist images, this time telling the story of a girl who treks through the United States with a robot, on a search to find her missing brother. Stranger Things‘ Millie Bobby Brown plays the lead, alongside Chris Pratt, Stanley Tucci, Jason Alexander and more.
The Magic Faraway Tree by Enid Blyton (1943)
Enid Blyton’s stories about a magical tree, the top of which is visited by various enchanted lands that its inhabitants (a fairy, a pixie, a man made of saucepans…) can explore, has been adapted for screen by Ghosts and Paddington 2‘s Simon Farnaby – and who better to capture the whimsy and absurdity of Blyton’s world? With Britannia‘s Ben Gregor directing, and a cast including Bridgerton‘s Nicola Coughlan, The Crown‘s Claire Foy, former Spider-Man Andrew Garfield, plus many more, this British picture promises to be a family treat.
The Ministry of Time by Kaliane Bradley (2024)
Kaliane Bradley’s debut novel The Ministry of Time began life as a lockdown distraction and was going great guns even before publication earlier this year. The BBC snapped up the sci-fi for a six-part series adapted by Normal People and Dead Ringers writer Alice Birch, it was announced in February. It’s the story of a government department that, in an effort to test the possibilities of time travel, is gathering ‘ex-pats’ through the centuries and pairing them up with modern-day liaisons, known as ‘bridges’. A 19th century Arctic explorer is paired up with a 21st century woman, and his fish-out-of-water experiences lead to an unexpectedly moving romance.
The Murderbot Diaries by Martha Wells (2017-)
Another sci-fi coming to Apple TV+, Martha Wells’ Murderbot series of novels tell the story of a security cyborg who overrides its programming and becomes emotionally attached to the humans and human world it was designed to police. True Blood and The Northman‘s Alexander Skarsgard has signed up to play the lead in a 10-part series coming to the streamer at an as-yet-unconfirmed date. If all goes well, there are six novels and counting in Wells’ series, so this one has the potential to run and run.
SEE ALSO
Dune by Frank Herbert (1965)
Not only is a third Dune movie on the way from Denis Villeneuve, but a prequel TV series Dune: Prophecy, set 10,000 years before the film timeline and telling the origin story of the powerful Bene Gesserit, is coming to Max in the US and Sky in the UK later this year.
Tales of Dunk and Egg by George R.R. Martin (1998 – 2010)
Six-episode Game of Thrones spinoff A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms is coming to HBO and Max in the US in 2025 (and, unconfirmed, but most probably Sky in the UK) based on GRRM’s Dunk and Egg stories.
The Testaments by Margaret Atwood (2019)
The Testaments, set 15 years after the events of Atwood’s original novel about a dystopian world in which fertile women are enslaved in a post-war theocratic America renamed Gilead, is expected to air on Hulu in the US after its parent show’s final season.
Anne Rice’s The Vampire Chronicles (1976-2023)
AMC had such success with its excellent new take on Anne Rice’s Interview with the Vampire that it brought out sister show Mayfair Witches in 2023, and has already greenlit six-episode series The Talamasca, which is another Vampire Chronicles spin-off about a secret society who keep watch over the paranormal.
The Chronicles of Narnia (1950 – 1956)
Barbie and Little Women director Greta Gerwig is working on new adaptations of C.S. Lewis’ family fantasy series for Netflix. Expect at least two movies, is the word on the street.
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