20 Recent & Upcoming Book-to-Screen Adaptations To Have on Your Radar

Once again, Hollywood has been hanging out at the library and finding plenty of stories to adapt to the screen. From science fiction thrillers to Regency romances, take a look at tv and film adaptations that were recently released or will be coming over the next few months for ideas for what to watch and what to read.

One Day (now on Netflix)

Cast includes: Ambika Mod, Leo Woodall, Essie Davis, Tim McInnerny, Amber Grappy, and Jonny Weldon

Based on One Day by David Nicholls

Over twenty years, snapshots of an unlikely relationship are revealed on the same day—July 15th—of each year. Dex Mayhew and Em Morley face squabbles and fights, hopes and missed opportunities, laughter and tears. And as the true meaning of this one crucial day is revealed, they must come to grips with the nature of love and life itself. 

Shōgun (February 27, FX and Hulu)

Cast includes: Hiroyuki Sanada, Cosmo Jarvis, Anna Sawai, Tadanobu Asano, Hiroto Kanai, and Takehiro Hira

Based on Shōgun by James Clavell

Set in the year 1600, it tells the story of a bold English pilot whose ship was blown ashore in Japan, where he encountered two people who were to change his life: a warlord with his own quest for power, and a beautiful interpreter torn between two ways of life and two ways of love.

The Expatriates (now on Prime Video)

Cast includes: Nicole Kidman, Sarayu Blue, Ji-young Yoo, Brian Tee, and Jack Huston

Based on The Expatriates by Janice Y.K. Lee

A traumatized college graduate, a lonely housewife, and a burned-out mother of three endure the challenges of their respective demons and families in the face of unexpected consequences within their American expat community in Hong Kong.

American Fiction (in theaters now)

Cast includes Jeffrey Wright, Sterling K. Brown, Issa Rae, Erika Alexander, Tracee Ellis Ross, and Adam Brody

Based on Erasure by Percival Everett

Thelonious "Monk" Ellison's writing career has bottomed out and he seethes as he watches the meteoric success of a first novel by a woman who once visited "some relatives in Harlem for a couple of days." Meanwhile, Monk struggles with real family tragedies—his aged mother is fast succumbing to Alzheimer's, and he still grapples with the reverberations of his father's suicide. In his rage and despair, Monk dashes off a novel under a pseudonym meant to be an indictment of the bestseller—and soon it becomes the Next Big Thing. How Monk deals with the personal and professional fallout galvanizes this audacious, hysterical, and quietly devastating novel.

Feud: Capote vs the Swans (available now on FX and Hulu)

Cast includes: Tom Hollander, Naomi Watts, Diane Lane, Chloë Sevigny, and Calista Flockhart, Demi Moore, Molly Ringwald, Treat Williams, and Joe Mantello

Based on Capote’s Women: A True Story of Love, Betrayal, and a Swan Song for an Era by Laurence Leamer

This look at Capote’s never-published final novel Answered Prayers shows how the few chapters that were published in Esquire affected his friendships and standing in the society with the rich women whose lives he fictionalized in his work.

Shortcomings (now on Prime Video)

Cast includes: Justin H. Min, Sherry Cola, Ally Maki, Debby Ryan, Tavi Gevinson, Sonoya Mizuno, Jacob Batalon, and Timothy Simons

Based on Shortcomings by Adrian Tomine

Ben Tanaka has problems. In addition to being rampantly critical, sarcastic, and insensitive, his long–term relationship is awash in turmoil. His girlfriend, Miko Hayashi, suspects that Ben has a wandering eye and more to the point, it’s wandering in the direction of white women. This accusation (and its various implications) becomes the subject of heated, spiraling debate, setting in motion a story that pits California against New York, devotion against desire and trust against truth.

Tokyo Vice season 2 (available now on Max)

Cast includes: Ansel Elgort, Ken Watanabe, Rachel Keller as Samantha, Shô Kasamatsu, Rinko Kikuchi, and Shun Sugata

Based on Tokyo Vice: An American Reporter on the Police Beat in Japan by Jake Adelstein

Jake Adelstein is the only American journalist ever to have been admitted to the insular Tokyo Metropolitan Police Press Club, where for 1 12 years he covered the dark side of Japan: extortion, murder, human trafficking, fiscal corruption, and of course, the yakuza. But when his final scoop exposed a scandal that reverberated all the way from the neon soaked streets of Tokyo to the polished Halls of the FBI and resulted in a death threat for him and his family, Adelstein decided to step down. Then, he fought back.

Argylle (now in theaters)

Cast includes: Henry Cavill, Bryce Dallas Howard, Samuel L. Jackson, Sam Rockwell, Dua Lipa, and Ariana DeBose

Based on Argylle by Elly Conway

A CIA spymaster, Frances Coffey, must prevent a Russian magnate from restoring his nation to greatness and setting in motion a chain of events that will take the world to the edge of war and chaos.

Lisa Frankenstein (now in theaters)

Cast includes: Kathryn Newton, Cole Sprouse, Liza Soberano, Henry Eikenberry, Joe Chrest, and Carla Gugino

Loosely based on Frankenstein or, the Modern Prometheus by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley

A monster assembled by a scientist from parts of dead bodies develops a mind of his own as he learns to loathe himself and hate his creator.

Force of Nature: The Dry 2 (in theaters now)

Cast includes: Eric Bana, Anna Torv, Deborra-Lee Furness, Robin McLeavy, Sisi Stringer, Lucy Ansell, Jacqueline McKenzie, Tony Briggs, Jeremy Lindsay Taylor, and Richard Roxburgh

Based on Force of Nature by Jane Harper (book 2 in the Aaron Falk series)

When five colleagues are forced to go on a corporate retreat in the wilderness, they reluctantly pick up their backpacks and start walking down the muddy path. But one of the women doesn't come out of the woods. And each of her companions tells a slightly different story about what happened. Federal Police Agent Aaron Falk has a keen interest in the whereabouts of the missing hiker. In an investigation that takes him deep into isolated forest, Falk discovers secrets lurking in the mountains, and a tangled web of personal and professional friendship, suspicion, and betrayal among the hikers. But did that lead to murder?

Red Queen (February 29, Prime Video)

Cast includes: Vicky Luengo, Hovik Keuchkerian, Andrea Trepat, Celia Freijeiro, Nacho Fresneda, and Vicenta N’Dongo

Based on by Red Queen by Juan Gómez-Jurado, first book in the Antonia Scott trilogy

After a personal trauma, Antonia Scott, whose ability to reconstruct crimes and solve baffling murders is legendary, refuses to continue her work until she is drawn into a macabre, ritualistic murder investigation by a desperate police officer with his own agenda. 

Spaceman (March 1, Netflix)

Cast includes: Adam Sandler, Carey Mulligan, Paul Dano, Kunal Nayyar, and Isabella Rossellini

Based on Spaceman of Bohemia by Jaroslav Kalfař

Hoping to become a national hero, Czech astronaut Jakub Procha accepts a dangerous solo mission to Venus and faces unknown dangers, wavering sanity, Russian rivals, and a giant alien spider who engages him in philosophical conversations.

Dune Part Two (in theaters March 1)

Cast includes: Timothée Chalamet, Zendaya, Rebecca Ferguson, Josh Brolin, Austin Butler, Dave Bautista, Florence Pugh and Christopher Walken

Based on the second half of Dune by Frank Herbert, book one in the Dune Chronicles series

The science-fiction classic follows the adventures of Paul Atreides, the son of a betrayed duke, who is given up for dead on a treacherous desert planet and adopted by its fierce, nomadic people, who help him unravel his most unexpected destiny.  Read more: Enter the Duniverse at the Library

Manhunt (March 15, Apple TV+)

Cast includes: Tobias Menzies, Anthony Byle, Patton Oswalt, Lili Taylor, Hamish Linklater, Antonio Bell, and Lovie Simone

Based on Manhunt: The Twelve-Day Chase for Lincoln's Killer by James L. Swanson

A fascinating and vivid account of the escape of John Wilkes Booth, Abraham Lincoln's assassin, takes readers along on the intensive search from the streets of Washington, D.C., through the swamps of Maryland, into the forests of Virginia, and into the lives of the men who pursued him. 

3-Body Problem (March 21, Netflix)

Cast includes: Benedict Wong, Jess Hong, Jovan Adepo, Eiza González, John Bradley, and Alex Sharp 

Based on The Three-Body Problem by Cixin Liu

Set against the backdrop of China's Cultural Revolution, a secret military project's signal is received by an alien civilization, which plans to invade Earth, while on Earth different camps start forming to either welcome the superior beings or to fight against the invasion.

We Were the Lucky Ones (March 28, Hulu)

Cast includes: Joey King, Logan Lerman, Marina Bye, Hadas Yaron, Henry-Lloyd Hughes, and Amit Rahav.

Based on We Were the Lucky Ones by Georgia Hunter

A novel based on the true story of a Jewish-Polish family recounts how the Kurcs are scattered throughout the world by the horrors of World War II and fight hardships to survive, reach safety, and find each other.

Heart of the Hunter (March 29, Netflix)

Cast includes: Bonko Khoza, Connie Ferguson, Masasa Mbangeni, Tim Theron, Deon Coetzee, Peter Butler, Sisanda Henna and Connie Chiume

Based on Heart of the Hunter by Deon Meyer; translated by K.L. Seegers

Asked to deliver a ransom demand to a friend's kidnappers, former government agent Thobela "Tiny" Mpayipheli becomes increasingly suspicious when the ransom, a computer disk, is targeted by the government, the police, and more sinister factions in his South African home. 

Ripley (April 4, Netflix)

Cast includes: Andrew Scott, Dakota Fanning, Johnny Flynn, and John Malkovich

Based on The Talented Mr. Ripley by Patricia Highsmith

In order to convince his son to come home, Herbert Greenleaf, a rich shipbuilder, sends the suave con man Tom Ripley to Italy, but is unaware of his son's friend's criminal activities. 

Dark Matter (May 8, Apple TV+)

Cast includes: Taron Edgerton, Jennifer Connellly, Alice Braga, Jimmi Simpson, Dayo Okeniyi, and Oakes Fegley

Based on Dark Matter by Blake Crouch

A mind-bending, relentlessly paced science-fiction thriller, in which an ordinary man is kidnapped, knocked unconscious—and awakens in a world inexplicably different from the reality he thought he knew.

Bridgerton season 3 (May 16, Netflix)

Cast includes: Nicola Coughlan, Luke Newton, Luke Thompson, Golda Rosheuvel, Adjoa Andoh, Ruth Gemmell, Daniel Francis, and Sam Phillips

Based on Romancing Mister Bridgerton by Julia Quinn

Secretly drawn to her best friend's brother for years, Penelope Featherington believes that she knows everything about Colin Bridgerton, until she stumbles upon his deepest secrets.

Summaries provided via NYPL’s catalog, which draws from multiple sources. Click through to each book’s title for more