What's a sci-fi or fantasy book or series that you want to see adapted as a movie/television series?
What's a sci-fi or fantasy book or series that you want to see adapted as a movie/television series?
I didn't read this series when I was a kid, but I finally got around to reading Roger Zelazny's Chronicles of Amber.
Given it's an older series, I wasn't sure how much I'd like it (some of those older series age horribly), but it was actually REALLY good still, and the few minor things that'd aged too much wouldn't be hard to update for a modern audience.
But the concept of Amber is fantastic, Corwin's behavior and arc perfect, and I think a TV series could do it justice nowadays. Man, some CGI artists could do some beautiful work depicting a hellride through shadow.
I also would really, really love to see Anne McCaffrey's Dragonriders of Pern adapted...but there's a few parts that have aged pretty badly, so it'd need careful handling of things like Lessa and F'lar's relationship and such. And maybe, you know, keep Jaxom the hell away from Corana.
But I think the whole idea of threadfall, and Impressing dragons, could be done beautifully on the screen. I think a run from Dragonflight to All The Weyrs of Pern (including the Harper Hall Trilogy) could be done. (Then leave the later books out, they don't really add much, lol.)
The series would need a top-notch composer scoring it, though. I'd vote for Natalie Holt. She did wonderfully with Loki, and it'd be a nice touch having a woman score the series that'd have the Harper Hall Trilogy included in it.
No one has mentioned The Culture?
There really wouldn't be much to update because a good chunk of it is still modern. Not only that, but Banks really fucked with gender, ideology, and civil rights in a way that is still incredibly relevant in 2023.
I also really want someone to try to portray Fwi-Song from Consider Phlebas.
Well, I have some good news for you!
Stephen Colbert to Produce ‘Chronicles of Amber’ TV Series Adaptation.
Piers Anthony's Incarnations of Immortality series of books. The first book alone, where a guy who was about to unalive himself accidentally kills death instead as he walks in the door to take his soul, would make an awesome series. Each book takes on a different aspect of Immortality (Death, War, Time, Nature, etc.) and how they overcome Satan by not being used for ultimate evil.
That last sentence may seem religion-forward but the author, Piers Anthony, is not a religious writer by any means. Another series of his, Bio of a Space Tyrant, could be an ultra gritty R rated Sci-fi epic with the right director.
The Lies of Locke Lamora would make a fantastic show/movie if done well, and I feel like the vast majority of it is pretty screen-friendly. Basically just some minor cgi for the scorpion-hawk and Falselight and you're good.
"Chasm City" by Alastair Reynolds. It's a standalone novel in a much bigger Revelation Space series. But the plot of this book is quite independent of the series, you don't need to know the lore to understand it. I think it is very well suited for a movie or a short series.
The setting is hard SciFi, very detailed, but not too crazy.
I'd absolutely love a faithful adaptation of SnowCrash by Neil Stephonson to a TV series, don't think a movie would be doable, unless they did a trilogy or something.
I have often thought about dragonriders of pern as a movie. I am not sure thread really would show well. The books really emphasize people's fear of thread. But I don’t see anything visual about it that would really inspire that fear on the screen. Even while reading, I often felt the fear level was unrealistic. And a lot of peoples motivations were based on that fear. Now a great writer might be able to adjust things to work aroundvthat, but it seems tough.
I always wonder why sci-fi gets mixed in with fantasy so much? It's always a pain to find decent movie/show or a book because these categories are treated as the same thing.
In my mind they are trivial to separate and I struggle to think of a single book or a film/show that even comes close to crossing over.
I enjoy quality writing in either genre, but as I get older I gravitate towards sci-fi because most fantasy seems to be written for younger audience with some great exceptions like Chronicles of Amber or Witcher.
And just to stay on topic, I nominate Asprin's Myth Adventures.
Firefly looks good.
Hyperion cantos
- Red Rising would be unreal
- Anything Sanderson would be nice. Especially his fantasy stuff but his Cytonic series would be good.
- The First Law Trilogy
- Codex Alera
- If Rothfuss wilould finish the friggin trilogy King killer Chronicles would be good
Scott Lynch's Gentleman Bastards series.
Red Rising would be a phenomenal TV show.
Mistborn and Stormlight Archive from Sanderson would also be incredible.
Hyperion cantos. Ilium/Olympos. Lovecraft's dream cycle.
On one hand it's a risk that there would just be some terrible version that ruins all public things connected with the name, but on the other hand there could be something fantastic.
I guess sandman is already off the list. Haven't seen the results though.
Another big risk in adaptations is that, like Peter Jackson's Lott, it will make it very unlikely that someone else would come up and do it better after a big enough attempt.
Ann Leckie's Ancillary series would make a fantastic space epic, if handled properly.
Old mans war. Come on they take OAP and turn them into super fighting soldiers to fight a whole galaxy of different races. We literally could have Morgan Freeman and Arnold err the terminator smashing aliens.
The Cosmere, or at least the Mistborn part thereof. While reading I often pictured movie scenes.
so it’d need careful handling of things like Lessa and F’lar’s relationship and such. And maybe, you know, keep Jaxom the hell away from Corana.
I read the original two trilogies in the 80s so I've forgotten some bits, but what were the things that would be problematic today? I don't think I remember any details relating to the above. Lessa is always one of the first people I think of when someone says "so and so was the first strong woman in scifi" and it's a character that came 30+ years later.
I only just read the Amber books a couple of years ago myself; I don't know how I'd missed them. Very much unique stories in my experience, really unlike anything else I've ever read. I did enjoy them, but I think I respected what he did as a storyteller more than I enjoyed them, if that makes any sense.
The Murderbot Diaries
A Canticle for Lebowitz would be AMAZING!!
Cosmere - Mistborn, Stomlight Archives, etc...
Becky chambers wayfinders
Locked tomb
Mark Lawrence's book of the ancestor.
For the longest time, I wanted to see the Percy Jackson series adapted. (I'm not counting those movies!) Thankfully, it is and the first book/first season will be coming out in December. I hope they are able to expand to the entire universe that Riordan made. There are so many stories that would be great to see.
Technically a book series, warhammer 40k. It's being made too and I'm as excited as I'm afraid.
The uplift war by David Brin
seveneves would make a banger series.
I feel like the Destroyermen series would fit a tv show format pretty well.
The polity series would be really cool. It's a great universe with lots of options for storytelling (which the diversity of the books demonstrates). Starting with prador moon and then following the war with the prador for a while would be amazing to see.
If I had another choice I'd pick the Children of Time series.
The Honor Harrington series. Would have to be 3d animated IMHO- One major component of the books is humans have received lifespan extension treatments which greatly slows down human aging. So you would need a ton of 18 to 25 year-old actors who can pull off playing 50 and 100-year-old characters.
Would love to see an Otherland adaptation into a series. There was a film being planned but haven’t heard anything in a while. Tad Williams is a fantastic author.
Philip Jose Farmer's Riverworld series could be a fun series/world to adapt to a series, but also infuriating if they cut it short after two seasons.
The Scholomance series by Naomi Novak could be great.
Übel Blatt Manga as Anime
Bobiverse series would be relatively easy to adapt, Children of Time by Adrian Tchaikovsky not do much, looking forward to Bradley Cooper's Hyperion adaptation
Gateway by Fredrik pohl would be great to see reimagined.
I know it had a brief go in the 90s, but I’d love to see a proper adaptation of Animorphs. Those books were wild, especially for something I remember starting in 3rd or 4th grade. I’d prefer animated personally, but I would tolerate another live action series. Tech has definitely improved enough to do the alien races justice in either format. Another pick would be Vampire Hunter D. It got a couple anime movies but I think a series could really do it some justice. It has such a fascinating world.
Jeff Long's The Descent:
In a cave in the Himalayas, a guide discovers a self-mutilated body with the warning "Satan exists".
In the Kalahari Desert, a nun unearths evidence of a proto-human species and a deity called Older-than-Old.
In Bosnia, something has been feeding upon the dead in a mass grave.
So begins mankind’s most shocking realization: that the underworld is a vast geological labyrinth populated by another race of beings. Some call them "devils" or "demons." But they are real. They are down there. And they are waiting for us to find them…
And it's sequel, Deeper:
A decade has passed since doomed explorers unveiled a nightmare of tunnels and rivers honeycombing the earth's depths. After millennia of suffering terror and predation, humanity's armies descended to destroy the ancient hordes. Deep beneath the Pacific Ocean, a doomed science expedition killed the subterraneans' fabled leader, and suddenly it seemed that evil was dead and all was right with the world again.
Now "Deeper" arrives to explode that complacency and plunge us back into the sunless abyss. Hell boils up through America's subways and basements to take its revenge and steal our children. Against the backdrop of a looming war with China, a crusade of volunteers races to find the vestiges of a lost race. But a lone explorer, the linguist Ali von Schade, learns that a far greater menace lies in the unexplored heart of the planet. The real Satan can't be killed, and he has been waiting since the beginning of time to gain his freedom. Man and his pitiless enemies are mere pawns in the greatest escape ever devised.I would like the premise of the Demon Cycle, maybe base it wholly on the first book then write something of a new story from there. One with less rape.
Melanie Rawn: The Dragon Prince
I didn't think special effects could do it justice in the past, but I think they've definitely advanced far enough now.
Leviathan by Scott Westerfeld. You'd need a massive budget to make the darwinists look convincing though so it'll probably never happen.
Tad Williams - The Dragonbone Chair
Trudi Canavan - The Black Magician Trilogy
A Darker Shade of Magic was slated for a movie, then a TV show, but I think it's basically been dropped. I really enjoyed that series and think it would be a pretty easy adaptation.
I think RA Salvatore's Forgotten Realms books would be awesome. We need a live action Drizzt!
For me its simple: Metro 2033 as a movie. Do I want that real bad.
The Bible 😎😎😎