These are the books or comics that I most want to see adapted to TV or film.
First a few honorable mentions for stuff that might have made this list if they weren’t already in active development.
The Three Body Problem series. This is one of my favorite sci fi trilogies of all time. I am so curious to see how Benioff and Weiss bring this to life for Netflix. There is a small part of me that is worried, but I’m choosing hope.
There are three Don Winslow properties being adapted, but the one I’m the most excited for is his cartel trilogy which is being adapted for FX. I’m hoping we will see this next year, and definitely plan on talking more about this series, as it is probably my favorite crime trilogy of all time.
Then we have The Name of the Wind or The Kingkiller Chronicle, which appears to be in some kind of development limbo, and talking about the unfinished series and books will depress me, so let’s get into the actual list, presented in alphabetical order.
American tabloid by James Ellroy might be one of the best crime novels I’ve ever read. I’ve been wanting to reread it to feel that rush again. The novel came out in 1995. It is the start of The Underworld USA trilogy that Ellroy started after wrapping up his L.A. Quartet, which contained L.A. Confidential (great book, great adaptation), and The Black Dahlia (really good book, bad adaptation). But I think this might be Ellroy at his peak. After the success of the L.A. Quartet he is obviously swinging for the fences. The novel follows three shady law enforcement characters, over a five year period, ending on November 22, 1963, culminating in the assassination of John F Kennedy. These three main characters are fictionalized, but many of the important secondary characters are real historical figures, like J. Edgar Hoover, JFK and the other Kennedys, Jimmy Hoffa, Howard Hughes, etc. It’s not exactly historical fiction, but more like a behind the scenes what-if.
It is so good.
My ideal scenario here would be an HBO mini series, which actually has been attempted. At least Bruce Willis optioned the rights, but the option expired, and then HBO and Tom Hanks’s production company picked up the rights and were working on a potential series, but that was in 2008, and I have heard nothing since. Gimme.
The Dandelion Dynasty by Ken Liu has to be the most slept on fantasy series out right now. There are four books in the series. It’s complete. Done. The best way I can describe it is if Game of thrones was based on Chinese and other Eastern myths and history instead of European history. The world building is intricate and detailed. The characters are rich and varied. The whole thing is truly epic in scope, and in the right hands, this could be one of the best fantasy tv series of all time. I would take this as live action, I would take it as anime, or just animated in general. There is just so much potential for a truly epic, long form, TV experience that would be unlike so much of what is already out there.
Everybody Knows by Jordan Harper is a book I read relatively recently. It’s a fantastic crime novel set in L.A., about a black bag publicist who is navigating the seedy underbelly of Hollywood. Honestly I hope he writes a million more of these. I would take this as a standalone film, or as the start to a series. These main characters, this setting and tone, I think would make for something really cool.
The Given Day by Dennis Lehane is an historical epic set in Boston starting in 1918. It covers the 1919 police strike, but also some events in Tulsa near what was known at the time as Black Wall street. This would also have to be a mini series to truly do it justice, but the weird thing is that this is the first book in a trilogy, and we’ve actually already gotten an adaptation of the second book in that series from Ben Affleck, called Live By Night. Live By Night takes one of the minor characters of The Given Day and continues his story in epic fashion. It’s basically a perfect little novel. And it’s probably Affleck’s worst film as a director. Which was a bummer. But hey, he set himself a high bar, so that’s his own fault.
Heat 2 by Michael Mann and Meg Gardiner is a book that came out last year and that had no business being as good as it was. I was a bit skeptical when I picked it up, but it had gotten some good press. Meg Gardiner is a crime writer I really like, I’ve read a few of her other books. And of course I’m a big fan of Michael Mann, but I was unsure how they were going to do anything with this that would justify its existence, especially given how Heat ends.
But they pull it off, and it ended up being one of my favorite reads last year. It’s a prequel and sequel at the same time. The prequel section shows us Hanna as a detective in Chicago, as well as Neil McCauley with his crew, doing a job. The sequel section follows Val Kilmer’s character, Chris Shiherlis, and Hanna, and I won’t say too much about what happens because where they choose to go with this whole thing is really cool. But there are talks that Mann might actually get to make this as a movie. Best case scenario would probably have been to do it back when all the original actors could have played the same characters, but I’m still excited to see what they might do here. Adam Driver is supposedly in talks to play a young McCauley, which is the character De Niro played in the original.
The Lock Artist by Steve Hamilton is another fantastic standalone crime story. It won the Edgar award. It’s about a young kid who was traumatized and has not spoken a single word in ten years. He’s now 18, and he has a unique gift for picking locks. Doors, padlocks, safes, whatever it is, he has a gift. Which of course makes him very interesting to all the wrong kinds of people, sort of pushing him into a life of crime, and the novel is about how he navigates that and tries to get himself out, while also being a love story. I think this would be particularly interesting as a film because you would need a young actor who is so charismatic and emotive in his physical performance that it wouldn’t be a problem that we never hear him speak. I desperately want someone to make this.
Saga written by Brian K Vaughan and illustrated by Fiona Staples is probably my favorite ongoing comic series. I still pick up every individual issue, and my dream would be to see a long form adaptation along the lines of what we got for Arcane, Cyberpunk: Edgerunners or even Invincible. The characters and worlds are so wild that I doubt you could ever do this justice in live action, although if you make it, I’m watching it, but I think this would translate so well to an animated experience and would instantly become everyone’s new obsession. It’s a sci-fi story unlike anything you’ve ever seen. It’s about intergalactic war, it’s a love story, it’s about parenting, it’s about family, whether biological or found family, it’s funny, its heartbreaking, it’s inventive, it’s shocking. I want it.
The Sean Duffy series by Adrian McKinty is a detective series set in Northern Ireland during the 1980s, a period lovingly known as the “troubles.” McKinty has some heat right now after his last two thrillers, The Island and The Chain respectively. Both are being adapted. I believe The Chain is being brought to life by Edgar Wright with Emma Stone in the main role, and The Island is coming to Hulu, although I’m not sure who the creative team is.
But honestly these are the books of his I have wanted to see on screen for years. The seventh book in this series comes out a little later this year, I am very excited. The first one came out in 2012, called The Cold Cold Ground. Again it’s set in Belfast during a very tumultuous time. Margaret Thatcher is in the mix, there are soldiers everywhere, riots, bombings, and a lot more tension between Sean Duffy who is a young Catholic detective in an almost entirely Protestant police force. So there’s all the cool historical context and whatnot, but then each book is also about a case. Throughout the series we go along with Duffy as he gets older, and also as times change, as well as witnessing significant historical events throughout the time period. I just love this series and would watch the hell out of this show. In the meantime I guess I will comfort myself with the new book coming out in August.
Seveneves by Neal Stephenson is a science fiction novel about what happens when the moon explodes and guarantees that earth will be uninhabitable for thousands of years. So the book is split into sections about when they first learn about the calamity, and then they have a few years to prepare and do what they can to save the human species by evacuating, and so the book takes us through this whole process until eventually they resettle in space, and I won’t say anything else but we follow lots of interesting characters and their descendants over longer time periods. It’s a grounded and hard science take on this scenario, and Stephenson spent 8 years plus researching and writing this to try and get the science right, which makes it such an interesting experience. In a way a good analogue would be The Martian, except much grander in scope, not just in the premise, but also in how many characters we see, and how much time is covered. This would be so cool to see brought alive.
And finally we have The Way of Kings or The Stormlight Archive by Brandon Sanderson. Now I am sure we will get something eventually. This series is too popular. But the question is when, what, and who. I think my ideal scenario for this would also be animation, whether anime, or something like the shows I mentioned earlier (Arcane, Invincible, or Cyberpunk: Edgerunners). Doing this right in live action would require so much money that I think the safer bet would be animation, but I’ll take whatever I can get. This is probably my favorite ongoing fantasy series, which is not saying anything, because if you’re into fantasy at all you’ve probably read these and know that they are so good. So give me this show. Or just give me the next book in the series, please and thank you.
Which books or comics are you dying to see adapted?
What marvelous reviews! Highly approve, personally, although I vehemently disagree with a couple, because you do, I'm interested in the adaption and the rest mmmmpf❤️ TY! Con/Juris/d
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