10 New & Upcoming Book Adaptations To Read and Watch
Winter is the perfect time to spend a lazy weekend on the couch reading, watching tv, or both (preferably not at the same time). The films and tv shows below are all based on books—giving you double the entertainment value, whether you prefer to read or watch them first. From one of the earliest English novels to a beloved middle grade classic, there's plenty here to get you through the seasonal chill.
Knock at the Cabin Door (in theaters now)
Cast includes Dave Bautista, Jonathan Groff, Ben Aldridge, Nikki Amuka-Bird, Kristen Cui, Abby Quinn, and Rupert Grint
Based on The Cabin at the End of the World by Paul Tremblay
A family vacationing at a remote cabin on a quiet New Hampshire lake faces a home invasion by four strangers carrying menacing but unidentifiable objects who claim to be acting to save the world.
Daisy Jones and the Six (March 3 on Prime Video)
Cast includes: Riley Keough, Sam Claflin, Suki Waterhouse, Camila Morrone, Will Harrison, Graham Dunne, Sebastian Chacon, and Timothy Olyphant
Based on Daisy Jones and the Six by Taylor Jenkins Reid
When singer Daisy Jones meets Billy Dunne of the band The Six, the two rising 70s rock-and-roll artists are catapulted into stardom when a producer puts them together, a decision that is complicated by a pregnancy and the seductions of fame.
A Little White Lie (March 3 in theaters)
Cast includes: Michael Shannon, Kate Hudson, Don Johnson, Peyton List, Zach Braff, and Wendie Malick
Based on Shriver by Chris Belden
Mistaken for a famous but reclusive author of the same name, lonely Shriver attends a writers' conference where he is pinned as a prime suspect in a disappearance case.
Lucky Hank (March 19 on AMC)
Cast includes: Bob Odenkirk, Mireille Enos, Olivia Scott Welch, Diedrich Bader, Cedric Yarbrough, Suzanne Cryer, and Sara Amini
Based on Straight Man by Richard Russo
William Henry Devereaux, Jr., is the reluctant chairman of the English department of a badly underfunded college in the Pennsylvania rust belt. Devereaux's reluctance is partly rooted in his character—he is a born anarchist—and partly in the fact that his department is more savagely divided than the Balkans. In the course of a single week, Devereaux will have his nose mangled by an angry colleague, imagine his wife is having an affair with his dean, wonder if a curvaceous adjunct is trying to seduce him with peach pits, and threaten to execute a goose on local television. All this while coming to terms with his philandering father, the dereliction of his youthful promise, and the ominous failure of certain vital body functions.
White House Plumbers (March, HBO)
Cast includes Woody Harrelson, Justin Theroux, Domhnall Gleeson, Lena Headey, Kiernan Shipka, and Judy Greer
Based on Integrity by Egil "Bud" Krogh with Matthew Krogh
A former Nixon administration official describes the Watergate years and his role as an investigator into the leaks of top-secret government documents, and how he later realized that exercising power without integrity can ruin one's life.
The Power (March 31, Prime Video)
Cast includes Toni Collette, John Leguizamo, Auli’i Cravalho, Toheeb Jimoh, and Josh Charles
Based on The Power by Naomi Alderman
When a new force takes hold of the world, people from different areas of life are forced to cross paths in an alternate reality that gives women and teenage girls immense physical power that can cause pain and death.
The Last Thing He Told Me (April 14, Apple TV+)
Cast includes: Jennifer Garner, Angourie Rice, Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, Aisha Tyler, Augusto Aguilera, Geoff Stults and John Harlan Kim
Based on The Last Thing He Told Me by Laura Dave
After her husband disappears, Hannah Hall quickly realizes he isn’t who he said he was and that his 16-year-old daughter, who wants nothing to do with her, may hold the key to figuring out his true identity.
Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret (April 28, in theaters)
Cast includes: Abby Ryder Fortson, Rachel McAdams, Benny Safdie, Elle Graham, and Kathy Bates
Based on Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret by Judy Blume
Faced with the difficulties of growing up and choosing a religion, eleven- going on twelve-year-old Margaret talks over her problems with her own private God.
Tom Jones (April 30, PBS)
Cast includes: Solly McLeod, Sophie Wilde, Hannah Waddingham, and Pearl Mackie
Based on Tom Jones by Henry Fielding
A foundling of mysterious parentage, Tom Jones is brought up by the benevolent and wealthy Squire Allworthy as his own son. Tom falls in love with the beautiful and unattainable Sophia Western, a neighbor's daughter, whose marriage has already been arranged. When Tom's sexual misadventures around the countryside get him banished, he sets out to make his fortune and find his true identity.
City on Fire (May 12, Apple TV+)
Cast includes: Wyatt Oleff, Chase Sui Wonders, Xavier Clyde, and Jemima Kirke
Based on City on Fire by Garth Risk Hallberg
A tale set against a backdrop of the infamous July, 1977 blackout follows the experiences of two New York heirs, their paramours, two punk-loving teens, an obsessive reporter, and a detective trying to learn what any of them have to do with a Central Park shooting.
Summaries provided via NYPL’s catalog, which draws from multiple sources. Click through to each book’s title for more.