Upcoming Book-To-Screen Adaptations: What To Read Before The Movie Or TV Show

The simple joy of reading a book can inspire so much. While we’re turning their pages, we use our imaginations to live inside entire worlds with its characters. There are so many great books being made into movies or TV shows over the course of this year and beyond. And, since there’s nothing quite like comparing a production’s vision to your own personal experience reading a story, we’re preparing you for everything you should read before the Hollywood adaptation hits theaters and our TV screens. 

Time to pop open your TBR list, because a lot of upcoming book-to-screen adaptations are on the way across loads of genres, from the second Dune movie to Netflix’s next season of Bridgerton. Across numerous genres, pick up these titles so you can say ‘I read that book’ before they become major movie and TV releases.

Shōgun (James Clavell)

James Clavel’s best-selling 1975 historical fiction novel, Shōgun, is getting a new series from FX and Hulu after it was previously turned into a nine-hour miniseries back in 1980. The ambitious novel, which stands at over 1110 pages, takes place in feudal Japan before the critical Battle of Sekigahara in 1600, through the eyes of an English sailor named John Blackthorne and his fictional heroics. 

Spaceman Of Bohemia (Jaroslav Kalfar)

Adam Sandler’s next movie will see the actor venturing off to the stars in Netflix’s Spaceman based off the 2017 Czech novel, Spaceman of Bohemia. The movie will follow an astronaut (Sandler) as travels through space and contemplates his past and future on Earth. Along the way he’ll meet a mysterious creature (that is possibly imaginary) on his spaceship as Jakub considers the big questions. 

Dune (Frank Herbert)

Denis Villeneuve beautifully adapted the first half of Frank Herbert’s Dune with 2021’s film of the same name. In spring 2024, we’ll get to pick up where the visionary filmmaker left off with the second half of the 658-page science fiction fantasy novel with the release of Dune: Part Two. The director has teased that the first installment was him setting the table and this upcoming 2024 movies will be an “amazing playground” to really unfold the story. The movie was initially coming this fall but was pushed back four months reportedly due to the SAG-AFTRA strike. 

Manhunt (James L. Swanson)

One of the most famous murders in American history was when Abraham Lincoln was assassinated by John Wilkes Booth. Based on the 2007 book by James L. Swanson, Manhunt: The 12-Day Chase for Lincoln’s Killer, an AppleTV+ series called Manhunt will follow the search to track down Booth following the assassination. 

Mr. & Mrs. American Pie (Juliet McDaniel)

Those with an AppleTV+ subscription will also get to jump into the adaptation of 2018 historical fiction novel, Mr. & Mrs. American Pie, with a miniseries called Palm Royale starring Kristen Wiig, Laura Dern, Allison Janney, Ricky Martin and Carol Burnett. The period comedy is about a Palm Springs socialite who finds out her husband is leaving her for a 22-year-old secretary. Amidst the heartbreak of the bombshell, she decides to apply for the Mrs. American Pie pageant and she’ll have to fake being the matriarch of a family in order to enter. 

The Three-Body Problem (Liu Cixin)

The creators behind Game of Thrones have made another popular book series. The Three-Body Problem is a Chinese science fiction series about a fictional past, present and future where humanity has encountered an alien civilization that consists of three sun-like stars that orbit each other in an unstable way. The Netflix series stars the likes of Benedict Wong, John Bradley and Eiza Gonzalez. 

We Were The Lucky Ones (Georgia Hunter)

Coming to those with a Hulu subscription this spring is the adaptation of We Were The Lucky Ones, which is a novel about a Polish Jewish family that is torn apart by World War II, and becomes determined to reunite. The bestseller based on a true story will star Logan Lerman and Joey King. The miniseries was produced by Ben Affleck and Matt Damon. 

A Gentleman In Moscow (Amor Towles)

Coming for those with a Paramount+ subscription is a TV series based on the novel of the same name is A Gentleman in Moscow. Ewan McGregor will star as Count Alexander Rostov, who spends decades banished to an attic hotel room following the Russian Revolution after the Bolshevik tribunal sentences him to house arrest. The series also stars McGregor’s real-life wife, Mary Elizabeth Winstead as well. 

Someone Like You (Karen Kingsbury)

2020 Christian romance novel, Someone Like You, is getting the movie treatment this spring with a movie starring Sarah Fisher and Jake Allyn. The novel is about a woman named Maddie West who learns that she was adopted as an embryo and has a sister she never knew about. In a fit of frustration, Maddie leaves her life, fiancé and all, to travel to Portland, Oregon to find her long lost sister, where she connects with the relatives she never knew she had and meets the man her sister once loved. 

The Talented Mr. Ripley (Patricia Highsmith)

After Patricia Highsmith’s 1955 psychological thriller was previously adapted in 1960 with Purple Noon and the 1999 movie starring Matt Damon and Jude Law, Netflix has a TV version of the story on the way starring Andrew Scott, Dakota Fanning and John Malkovich. The series was created by Steven Zaillian, who previously wrote screenplay for movies like Schindler’s List, The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo and The Irishman. The book is about Tom Ripley, who is hired by a wealthy industrialist to use his con artist skills to bring his son back from his Italian escapades. 

The Ministry Of Ungentlemanly Warfare (Damien Lewis)

Guy Ritchie’s next action comedy is directly inspired by the World War II history book, The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare. The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare cast includes Henry Cavill, Eiza González, Alan Ritchson, Henry Golding, Alex Pettyfer, Hero Fiennes Tiffin and Cary Elwes. The movie will portray a fictionalized version of Operation Postmaster, which was a British special ops mission carried out by Winston Churchill. The organization has been credited with changing the course of WWII and starting the craft of modern black ops. 

The Idea Of You (Robinne Lee)

The “fanfiction to book to movie pipeline” is back with the adaptation of The Idea Of You starring Anne Hathaway and Nicholas Galitzine. The book is about a 39-year-old divorced mother and owner of an art gallery named Soléne (Hathaway), who is reluctant to take her daughter to meet her favorite boy band, but once she does she passionately connects with one of the members, August Moon (Galitzine). The story is reportedly based on a One Direction fanfiction. 

Dark Matter (Blake Crouch)

This spring, Blake Crouch’s 2016 science-fiction thriller Dark Matter is getting a TV adaptation starring Joel Edgerton and Jennifer Connelly. The novel follows Jason Desson (whom Edgerton will play), who is a physicist who gets kidnapped and wakes up living a life that is not the same as it used to be. His wife is no longer his wife, his son was never born and he’s a celebrated genius. We’ll leave the secrets he uncovers for you to read and see once the show premieres. 

Romancing Mister Bridgerton (Julia Quinn)

Netflix found a phenomenon in 2020 with Bridgerton and the series is set to continue in 2023 with another adaptation of one of Julia Quinn’s novels from the Regency romance series. The third season will go out of order in the Bridgerton book series, jumping to the 2002 fourth novel, Romancing Mister Bridgerton. This novel focuses on Colin Bridgerton and Penelope Featherington’s romance following the pair developing a friendship prior. Check out the first images from the new season ahead of its premiere. 

The Watchers (A.M. Shine)

2022 horror adventure novel, The Watchers by A.M. Shine is the inspiration for the feature directorial debut for Ishana Night Shyamalan, the daughter of M. Night Shylamalan. The movie will star Dakota Fanning as the novel’s protagonist, a 28-year-old artist who becomes trapped in a mysterious forest in western Ireland.

Presumed Innocent (Scott Turow)

Back in 1980, Harrison Ford starred in an adaptation of Scott Turow’s legal thriller, Presumed Innocent. Over 40 years later, Jake Gyllenhaal will star in a new adaptation of the novel of a prosecutor who becomes the prime suspect in a murder of his former lover. 

It Ends With Us (Colleen Hoover)

Colleen Hoover’s beloved romance novel It Ends With Us is becoming a 2024 movie starring Blake Lively. The 2016 book that remains on Amazon’s top bestselling books years later centers on a young woman who becomes caught between a new fling with a neurosurgeon and her first love when she returns to her hometown in Maine to attend her father’s funeral. While fans were initially not happy with Lively’s casting not matching the book character’s age, Hoover has shared she “messed up” making her characters so young for the subject matter and made the decision to change it for the film.  

The Legacy of Mark Rothko (Lee Seldes)

Mark Rothko was famously a painter associated with the Abstract Expressionist modern art movement. The 1978 novel The Legacy of Mark Rothko unveiled some in-depth information about the troubled artist, detailing what became of a ton of his artwork following his apparent suicide and legal scandals associated with his life and death. Fifty Shades Of Grey director Sam Taylor-Johnson is helming its adaptation Rothko, which will see Russell Crowe playing the painter and The Last Voyage of Demeter’s Aisling Franciosi as his daughter as she is drawn into a legal battle to honor her father’s legacy. Aaron Taylor-Johnson, who is the husband to the director, is also among the cast. 

Wicked: The Life and Times of The Wicked Witch Of The West (Gregory Maguire)

Sure, everyone knows Wicked as a smash hit on Broadway, but the idea to tell the Wicked of the West’s origin story came from the 1995 novel from Gregory Maguire, which then inspired the beloved musical. Wicked is set to be adapted in two movies based on both this novel and the musical, per one star Cynthia Erivo. Erivo will play Elphaba and Ariana Grande will play Glinda amongst Wicked’s incredible cast. 

Mickey7 (Edward Ashton)

Bong Joon-ho’s next movie since winning Best Picture for Parasite is a movie called Mickey 17, starring Robert Pattinson, Toni Collette, Mark Ruffalo and Naomi Ackie. It’s based on a 2022 science fiction novel by Edward Ashton about a disposable employee on an expedition to colonize an ice world called Niflheim. After one iteration of Mickey dies, a new body is regenerated, with many of the previous versions intact. 

Anyone else ready to head to the library and the bookstore to get caught up on these? There are so many upcoming book-to-screen adaptations on the way, and following along with what's next via your reading list is a great way to enjoy these movies and TV shows even more!