A new chapter in the world of literary adaptations is under way.
From a mom falling for a boy band member with The Idea of You starring Anne Hathaway and Nicholas Galitzine to Natalie Portman playing an aspiring reporter pursuing the murder of a young woman (Moses Ingram) in 1960s Baltimore in Lady in the Lake, bookworms have been seeing and will continue to see popular novels hitting both the big and small screens.
This coming year, popular books like Colleen Hoover’s fan favorite It Ends With Us and John Green’s YA screen return Turtles All the Way Down will also be adapted, with stars such as Blake Lively, Cynthia Erivo, Ariana Grande, Zachary Levi among others set to lead the anticipated literary adaptations.
Below The Hollywood Reporter has compiled a list of the books readers must keep on their radar in light of their upcoming adaptations
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‘The Idea of You’
Image Credit: Amazon Content Services LLC Available to stream now on Prime Video.
Anne Hathaway stars as a single 40-year-old mom who falls for 24-year-old Hayes Cambpell, the lead singer of popular boy band August Moon (Nicholas Galitzine), after meeting at Coachella. Despite an age difference and being a part of different worlds, what may seem as a fun fling can turn out to be possibly more for the unlikely pair. The Michael Showalter film is based on Robinne Lee’s 2017 novel of the same name. The film will feature original music sung by Galitzine that will make audiences feel like they transported back to the early 2000s boy band phenomenon.
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‘It Ends With Us’
Image Credit: Cindy Ord/Getty Images; Dia Dipasupil/Getty Images Release Date: Aug. 9
With Colleen Hoover quickly becoming a household name in the world of romance books, fans are eagerly anticipating the first adaptation of one of Hoover’s bestsellers, It Ends With Us. The film adaptation stars Blake Lively as Lily Bloom, who has a chance meeting with neurosurgeon Ryle Kincaid (Justin Baldoni), which sparks an intense connection. But eventually she sees sides of Ryle that remind her of her parents’ relationship. Meanwhile, her world is turned upside down after her first love Atlas Corrigan (played by Brandon Sklenar) comes back into her life. Amid high fan expectations, Hoover had to address controversy of casting choices: In the 2016 book, Lily is 23 and Ryle is 30, while Lively is 35 and Baldoni is 39. In a conversation with Today’s Jenna Bush Hager at Hoover’s Book Bonanza festival in Texas, the author said the choices fans have been concerned about were her decision. “Back when I wrote It Ends With Us, the new adult [genre] was very popular,” she said. “You were writing college-age characters. That’s what I was contracted to do. I made Lily very young. I didn’t know that neurosurgeons went to school for 50 years.” Hoover continued, “There’s not a 20-something neurosurgeon. As I started making this movie, I’m like, ‘We need to age them out, because I messed up.’ So, that’s my fault.” Hoover also defended the wardrobe choices after criticism circulated online after set photos spread on the internet.
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‘Mickey 17’
Image Credit: Warner Bros. Pictures Release Date: Jan. 31, 2025
Following his Oscar-winning film Parasite, director Bong Joon Ho has adapted Mickey 17, based on Edward Ashton’s novel of the same. The film follows Mickey 7, a space colonist known as an expendable — those who do the colony’s most dangerous work and often die in the process, only to be brought back to life through human printing technology. Bong debuted the first trailer for the film at CinemaCon, describing the story as being about “a simple man who ultimately ends up saving the world.” The film will star Robert Pattinson as Mickey Barnes. The actor plays two characters — Mickey 17 and Mickey 18. Pattinson described Mickey 17 as beaten down by life but is happy to be part of a team, while 18 is more like “playing an evil brother” who is “out of control.”
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‘Harold and the Purple Crayon’
Image Credit: Sony Pictures Release Date: Aug. 2
A beloved children’s book character is being brought to life with Harold and the Purple Crayon. Zachary Levi stars in the animated/live-action adaptation of Crockett Johnson’s classic, as the grown-up Harold, who can make anything come to life simply by drawing it. After he draws himself off the book’s pages and into the physical world, he realizes what can happen when the power of unlimited imagination falls into the wrong hands. Harold and his friends must then save both the real and imaginary world. Carlos Saldanha directs with John Davis producing. In addition to Levi, Lil Rel Howery, Benjamin Bottani, Jemaine Clement, Tanya Reynolds, Alfred Molina and Zooey Deschanel also star. The film’s screenplay is written by David Guion and Michael Handelman.
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‘Wicked’
Image Credit: Courtesy of Universal Release Date: Nov. 27
“There’s no place like Oz” — or so it’s teased of the upcoming Wicked adaptation. The Jon M. Chu-directed film is based on Gregory Maguire’s 1995 book, which was conceived as a renowned stage musical. Marc Platt and David Stone, who produce the film, brought Wicked to the stage when it debuted in 2003. Wicked become the No. 2 highest-grossing Broadway show of all time, behind The Lion King. Ariana Grande stars as Glinda opposite Cynthia Erivo’s Elphaba in the film. Chu has confirmed that the actresses sing live vocals in the film. Michelle Yeoh, Jonathan Bailey, Ethan Slater, Jeff Goldblum, Marissa Bode, Keala Settle, Bronwyn James, Adam James and Bowen Yang also star in the film alongside Grande and Erivo.
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‘Nightbitch’
Image Credit: Rich Fury/Getty Images Release Date: Dec. 6
Amy Adams is set to explore motherhood and rage in a darkly comic film adaptation of Rachel Yoder’s 2001 novel Nightbitch. The satirical novel follows a mother whose domesticity takes a turn when she slowly realizes that she may be transforming into a dog. Marielle Heller directs with Anne Carey producing alongside Sue Naegle, Christina Oh and Stacy O’Neil, who is Adams’ partner at the Bond Group company. The Searchlight Pictures and Annapurna film was originally intended to debut on Hulu, but will now get a theatrical release.
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‘The Sympathizer’
Image Credit: Hopper Stone/HBO Available to stream now on Max.
Viet Thanh Nguyen’s Pulitzer Prize-winning novel got the adaptation treatment via a limited HBO series starring Robert Downey Jr. in several supporting roles — the actor also executive produces the seven-episode series alongside his wife and producing partner Susan Downey. The series follows Captain (Hoa Xuande), a half-French, half-Vietnamese communist spy through the final days of the Vietnam War and in his new life as a refugee in Los Angeles, where he learns that his spying days aren’t over. Fred Nguyen Khan, Toan Le, Phanxine, Vy Le, Ky Duyen, Kieu Chinh, Duy Nguyen, Alan Trong and Sandra Oh also star.
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‘Three-Body Problem’
Image Credit: Netflix Available now to stream now on Netflix.
Netflix’s sci-fi series 3 Body Problem, from Game of Thrones showrunners David Benioff and Dan Weiss, is adapted from author Liu Cixin’s Remembrance of Earth’s Past trilogy. The books and the series center on humanity preparing for an alien invasion. In the show, “a young woman’s decision in 1960s China reverberates across space and time into the present day. When the laws of nature inexplicably unravel before their eyes, a close-knit group of brilliant scientists join forces with an unorthodox detective to confront the greatest threat in humanity’s history.” The series stars Jovan Adepo, John Bradley, Rosalind Chao, Liam Cunningham, Eiza González, Jess Hong, Marlo Kelly, Alex Sharp, Sea Shimooka, Zine Tseng, Saamer Usmani, Benedict Wong and Jonathan Pryce.
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‘Apples Never Fall’
Available to stream now on Peacock.
Annette Bening makes a return to television in the series adaptation of Big Little Lies author Liane Moriarty’s novel of the same name. From showrunner Melanie Marnich, the series and book center on Stan (Sam Neill) and Joy Delaney (Bening), who are ready to further enjoy their lives and spend time with their children (played by Jake Lacy, Alison Brie, Conor Merrigan-Turner and Essie Randles) after selling their successful tennis academy. However, when a wounded young woman knocks on Joy and Stan’s door, things take a turn. David Heyman exec produces the series alongside Marnich.
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‘Mary & George’
Image Credit: Starz Available to stream now on Starz.
Julianne Moore, Nicholas Galitzine, and Tony Curran star in the historical series inspired by the nonfiction The King’s Assassin: The Fatal Affair of George Villiers and James I, by Benjamin Woolley. The seven-part limited series tells tells the story of Mary Villiers (played by Moore), an aristocrat who grooms her beautiful second son, George (Galitzine), to seduce King James I (Curran) and break into his royal court. While George is initially hesitant to utilize his charm and good looks to improve his family’s social standing, he gradually transforms into a political figure corrupted by power, and Mary is forced to reckon with a monster of her own making. The series is created and written by D.C. Moore, who also executive produces alongside Liza Marshall, Oliver Hermanus and Moore.
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‘Under the Bridge’
Image Credit: Darko Sikman/Hulu Available to stream now on Hulu.
Riley Keough and Lily Gladstone star in the Hulu limited series based on Rebecca Godfrey’s 2005 book Under the Bridge. The eight-episode series follows the 1997 murder of teenager Reena Virk, who was beaten and murdered by a group of teenagers in Canada in 1997. Godfrey’s book told the story of seven teenage girls and a boy accused of the murder, revealing startling truths about the unlikely killer. Keough stars in the series as Godfrey with Gladstone starring as a local police officer trying to solve the case.
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‘The Tattooist of Auschwitz’
Image Credit: Martin Mlaka/Sky UK Available to stream now on Peacock and Sky.
Melanie Lynskey, Harvey Keitel and Jonah Hauer-King star in this six-part series based on Heather Morris’ 2017 novel of the same name. The story centers on Jewish Holocaust survivors Lali and Gita Sokolov. After arriving at Auschwitz-Birkenau in 1942, Lali (Jonah Hauer-King) was made a tattooist to ink identification numbers on prisoners’ arms. He meets Gita (Anna Próchniak), and they fall in love despite having to endure the constant presence of Nazi SS officer Baretzki (Jonas Nay). Then 60 years later, recently widowed Lali (Harvey Keitel) meets aspiring writer Heather Morris (Melanie Lynskey) and tells his story.
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‘Dark Matter’
Available to stream now on Apple TV+.
Joel Edgerton, Jennifer Connelly, Alice Braga, Jimmi Simpson, Dayo Okeniyi and Oakes Fegley star in the series adaptation of Blake Crouch’s Dark Matter. The nine-episode sci-fi thriller series follows Jason Dessen (Edgerton), a physicist, professor and family man who is abducted into an alternate version of his life. In “this labyrinth of realities, he embarks on a harrowing journey to get back to his true family and save them from the most terrifying, unbeatable foe imaginable: himself,” Apple TV+ describes of the series. Crouch serves as executive producer, showrunner and writer alongside executive producers Matt Tolmach and David Manpearl for Matt Tolmach Productions and Edgerton.
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‘Palm Royale’
Image Credit: Apple TV+ Available to stream now on Apple TV+.
The Apple TV+ series starring Kristen Wiig, Laura Dern, Allison Janney and Ricky Martin is loosely based on Juliet McDaniel’s novel Mr. and Mrs. American Pie. The series centers on Maxine Simmons (Wiig) as she endeavors to break into Palm Beach high society during the powder keg year of 1969. Carol Burnett and Bruce Dern also guest star in the series written, executive produced and showrun by Abe Sylvia for Aunt Sylvia’s Moving Picture Company. Executive producers include Laura Dern and Jayme Lemons for Jaywalker Pictures, Wiig, Katie O’Connell Marsh, Tate Taylor and John Norris for Wyolah Films, Sharr White, Sheri Holman and Boat Rocker. Taylor, Sylvia, Claire Scanlon and Stephanie Laing direct the series.
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‘We Were the Lucky Ones’
Image Credit: Vlad Cioplea/Hulu Available to stream now on Hulu.
Hulu’s limited series adapted from Georgia Hunter’s novel of the same name is inspired by the true story of a Jewish family separated at the start of WWII. The series follows them as they try to survive and reunite. Hunter co-executive produces the series that stars Joey King and Logan Lerman. Hadas Yaron, Robin Weigert, Lior Ashkenazi, Amit Rahav, Eva Feiler, Henry Lloyd-Hughes, Moran Rosenblatt and Sam Woolf also star in the series created by Erica Lipez.
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‘A Gentleman in Moscow’
Image Credit: Courtesy of SkyShowtime Available to stream now on Paramount+.
Ewan McGregor stars in the adaptation of Amor Towles’ internationally bestseller. Set against the backdrop of post-Revolutionary Russia, the series follows Count Alexander Rostov, who is banished by a Soviet tribunal to an attic room in a grand Moscow hotel. Stripped of his title and material wealth, Rostov spends his days under house arrest unknowing what is unfolding outside the hotel’s doors. Despite being shunned from reality, he builds a new life within the hotel and forges new friendships and family. The eight-part series also stars Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Alexa Goodall, Johnny Harris and Fehinti Balogun. A Gentleman in Moscow was produced by Lionsgate Television in association with Paramount. Ben Vanstone serves as executive producer and showrunner on the series. Harper executive produced alongside McGregor, Sharon Hughff, Pancho Mansfield, Moonriver TV’s Xavier Marchand and Towles.
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‘Ripley’
Image Credit: Lorenzo Sisti/NETFLIX Available to stream now on Netflix.
Andrew Scott stars as Tom Ripley in the limited series adapted from The Talented Mr. Ripley by Patricia Highsmith. Set in in early 1960s New York, the series follows a grifter Tom (Scott) who is hired by a wealthy man to travel to Italy in a bid to convince his vagabond son to return home. Taking the job is Tom’s first step into a life of deceit, fraud and murder. Johnny Flynn and Dakota Fanning also star in the series co-produced by Showtime, Endemol Shine North America, Entertainment 360 and Filmrights. Steven Zaillian serves as showrunner and exec producer alongside Garrett Basch, Clayton Townsend, Guymon Casady, Ben Forkner, Sharon Levy and Philipp Keel. Zaillian wrote and directed all eight episodes.
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‘Expats’
Image Credit: Amazon MGM Studios Available to stream now on Prime.
Lulu Wang tells the story of a group of expatriates living in Hong Kong in the Prime series based on the 2016 novel The Expatriates by Janice Y. K. Lee. The series follows three American women living in Hong Kong during 2014 amid the Umbrella Movement. Kidman portrays a wealthy woman haunted by the loss of her child; Ji-young Yoo is a woman who can’t move past a terrible mistake; and Sarayu Blue stars as a woman whose marriage is falling apart. Brian Tee and Jack Huston also star. All six episodes are directed by Wang. Lee, Vera Miao and Gursimran Sandhu served as writers on the show, along with Alice Bell and Wang.
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‘Shogun’
Image Credit: Katie Yu/FX Available to stream now on Hulu.
James Clavell’s novel gets the adaptation treatment in FX’s Shogun. The series, set in 1600 Japan amid a century-defining civil war, follows Lord Yoshii Toranaga fighting for his life as his enemies on the Council of Regents unite against him. A mysterious European ship is then found marooned in a nearby fishing village and the English pilot, Major John Blackthorne is taken prisoner. Hiroyuki Sanada, Cosmo Jarvis, Tadanobu Asano, Hiroto Kanai, Takehiro Hira, Moeka Hoshi and Tokuma Nishioka star in the series created by Rachel Kondo and Justin Marks. Marks serves as showrunner and executive producer. Michaela Clavell (the novel author’s daughter), Edward L. McDonnell, Michael De Luca and Kondo also executive produce.
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‘Manhunt’
Image Credit: Courtesy of Apple TV+ Available to stream now on Apple TV+.
The 12-day hunt for Abraham Lincoln’s killer John Wilkes Booth after the assassination is chronicled in the Apple TV+ series Manhunt, adapted from Chase for Lincoln’s Killer by James L. Swanson. The seven-part limited is created by Monica Beletsky, who also serves as showrunner and executive producer. Carl Franklin also executive produces and directed the first two episodes. Tobias Menzies stars as Secretary of War Edwin Stanton, hired by Lincoln to run the War Department during the Civil War and later leads the chase of Booth. Anthony Boyle, Lovie Simone, Will Harrison, Brandon Flynn, Damian O’Hare, Glenn Morshower, Patton Oswalt, Matt Walsh and Hamish Linklater also star.
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‘A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder’
Image Credit: Sally Mais/Netflix Available to stream on Netflix on Aug. 1.
Wednesday star Emma Myers leads the series adaptation of the bestselling YA mystery novel by Holly Jackson, A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder. Myers stars as protagonist Pip Fitz-Amobi in the six-episode series adapted by Poppy Cogan and directed by Dolly Wells. Throughout the series, 17-year-old Pip investigates the murder of a high school student who was killed five years prior. Zain Iqbal, Anna Maxwell Martin, Gary Beadle, Mathew Baynton, India Lillie Davies, Rahul Pattni, Henry Ashton and Mitu Panicucci are also among the cast. The series is based on the popular trilogy of novels by Jackson with A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder being the first in the series. The 2019 novel was followed by Good Girl, Bad Blood in 2020 and As Good As Dead in 2021.
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‘Turtles All the Way Down’
Image Credit: MAX Available to stream on Max on May 2.
John Green’s 2017 novel — his most recent published work since his 2012 novel The Fault in Our Stars — follows teen Aza Holmes, a high school student with OCD and anxiety, and her search for a fugitive billionaire who happens to be a neighbor’s father. Hannah Marks directs the movie, which hails from New Line Cinema and Temple Hill. Isabel Merced stars alongside Felix Mallard, Cree, Maliq Johnson, Poorna Jagannathan, Judy Reyes and J. Smith-Cameron. Isaac Aptaker and Elizabeth Berger penned the script. Wyck Godfrey, Marty Bowen and Isaac Klausner produce.
