It’s a bumper year for book to screen adaptations …
Mary Shelley is having a moment with two adaptations of her Gothic novel Frankenstein, originally published in 1818. Maggie Gyllenhaal’s version is called The Bride and stars Jessie Buckley and Christian Bale.
Guillermo Del Toro’s adaptation of Frankenstein (his favourite novel) is coming to Netflix in November with Jacob Elordi, Oscar Isaacs, Mia Goth and Christoph Waltz. Fun fact: Shelley wrote the legendary story when she was just 19-years-old!
The Leopard by Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa is regarded as one of the greatest Italian novels of the 20th century, which is now available to watch on Netflix. Billed as an historical drama, it’s set in Sicily during the Risorgimento of the 1860s when Giuseppe Garibaldi, the leader of the Redshirts, swept through the island with his proletarian army known as the Thousand.
Fans of Laura Ingalls Wilder’s Little House on the Prairie have been waiting for over fifty years for this adaptation – the first since the original 1970s TV series starring Michael Landon in the role of Pa and Melissa Gilbert as Laura. The original will be a difficult act to follow, but I predict an uptick in #cottagecore décor and fashion this summer.
Our collective appetite for crime knows no bounds, running the whole gamut from police procedurals to psychological thrillers such as The Woman in Cabin 10 by Ruth Ware. Set on a luxury cruise liner travelling through the Norwegian fjords, it stars British starlet Keira Knightley, so will be one to watch.
Long Bright River by Liz Moore appeared on Barack Obama’s best books of the year when it was published in 2020. Amanda Seyfried stars in the adaptation as a cop in Philadelphia where an opioid crisis precipitates a series of murders. Seyfried also stars in the much-anticipated The Housemaid, originally written by Freida McFadden. Read an exclusive interview with the author of the novels here.
So-called “cosy crime” is a huge trend that tends to divide opinion. Are they brilliant or just too twee? Fans will no doubt enjoy an adaptation of Richard Osman’s The Thursday Murder Club starring an incredible ensemble including Helen Mirren, Pierce Brosnan, Celia Imrie and David Tennant.
For devotees of Irish crime writer Andrea Mara, a film adaptation of her page turning thriller, All Her Fault, starring Succession‘s Sarah Snook, Jake Lacy and Michael Peña will premier soon. Also in the works are adaptations of books by a trio of my favourite crime writers: Lisa Jewell (None of This Is True and Then She Was Gone), Fiona Macintosh (The Pearl Thief), and Alafair Burke’s The Better Sister with Jessica Biel and Elizabeth Banks.
And if you haven’t seen it yet, Apple Cider Vinegar is based on the non-fiction book The Woman Who Fooled the World by journalists Beau Donelly and Nick Toscano. It relates how an Australian influencer, Belle Gibson, faked a cancer battle for followers and built an empire based on a lie … it certainly had THE GLOSS team talking!
Fans of Maggie O’Farrell’s novel Hamnet, a fictional story about William Shakespeare, will be eager to see Paul Mescal star as the young playwright alongside Jessie Buckley, as his wife. Directed by Chloé Zhao, Joe Alwyn (Taylor Swift’s ex-husband) is also in the cast, which seems like an unusual choice. If you haven’t read it a real treasure awaits, but be advised to keep tissues at hand.
A Dolly Alderton adaptation of Pride and Prejudice is heading for Netflix. The six-episode series will star Golden Globe winner Emma Corrin (The Crown, Black Mirror) and BAFTA winner Jack Lowden (Slow Horses, Benediction) as Elizabeth Bennet and Mr Darcy, with Academy Award winner Olivia Colman (The Favourite, The Crown) as Mrs Bennet. The Other Bennet Sister, a fresh spin on Mary (the awkward, preachy sister) which has been adapted from Janice Hadlow’s book is also in the works. These should nicely fill the break in Bridgerton transmission (based on Julia Quinn’s Regency romance novels) with season 4 out later this year starring our favourite, Nicola Coughlan.
There’s also a new series based on a Harlan Coben book coming to Netflix, Run Away, with James Nesbitt, Ruth Jones and Minnie Driver. It’s bound to be another hit following his success with Missing You, Fool Me Once and Gone for Good, among others.
Finally, for Marian Keyes fans her bestselling novel Grown Ups is being filmed this year to launch in 2026. Jamie Dornan will play identical twins in the series, which should be interesting!
