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With books being picked up for adaptation almost every month now, it’s easy to start dreaming of your favorite series being on the screen. Here are five series that deserve a chance at the silver screen.
Superhero stories dominate the box office and streaming services alike, so the entertainment industry should get on this one right away.
Renegades follows Nova and Adrian as their worlds collide. For Nova, getting close to Adrian means getting closer to getting her revenge. For Adrian, meeting Nova means discovering the true reach of his powers and how his whole life could be a lie.
The series has diverse representation, with Adrian being POC, his parents being gay, and a man with disabilities being a superhero. It also shows a character with certain powers treated similarly to someone with an autoimmune disease.
Let’s get some more vampires on the screen! House of Night has the potential to be a long-lasting series with a spinoff series and films.
In this series, vampires aren’t hidden from the world and are easily identified by their markings from when they become fledglings. They also aren’t bitten to become vampires; they are chosen and marked by the goddess Nyx.
House of Night has fantastic POC representation starting with the protagonist, Zoey Redbird, being of Native American ancestry.
The film rights were acquired in 2011, but those expired in 2020 and are still up for grabs. Fans of the series have started campaigning again to get it picked up and turned into a series.
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This fantasy series would make an excellent anthology series or film series with its complex characters and rich lore.
While the books are set in the same universe, they aren’t a typical series. Graceling introduces the realm, but each story focuses on a different character. Gracelings are people with Graces, or special abilities, that can be identified by their two-colored eyes.
Fire takes place years before Graceling but is set over the mountain range of the nations where the other books take place. Bitterblue and Winterkeep explore the world and politics of the countries even deeper.
Many fans have been campaigning for an adaptation for years, but nothing has come of it yet. It has the potential to build a world and following like Game of Thrones or The Lord of the Rings.
L.J. Smith’s The Vampire Diaries created a cult following and spawned two spinoffs. Because of this, we know The Night World has the potential to be a huge hit. What are you waiting for, CW?!
Supernatural races make up a secret society called The Night World that functions with many strict laws. The lore is creative and similar to that of The Vampire Diaries with even more supernatural creatures introduced.
Each book of The Night World follows a different teenage girl as she grapples with problems, usually love and the “soulmate principle,” and the Night World’s laws.
After the sixth book, the romance problems take a minor backseat to the impending apocalypse and the search for those that could either save the world or end it.
The series itself would do well as an anthology series like Tell Me a Story or American Horror Story. It could also do well as a film franchise with a connected universe like Marvel or D.C.
Kathy Reichs has already proven her books translate well to screen with Bones. Why not do it again for the teenage market?
Virals, a science fiction series, follows a group of teens as they figure out their newfound abilities after a science experiment goes awry. Tory, the protagonist and narrator of the main series, is Temperance “Bones” Brennan’s great-niece. See, built-in audience.
The first book shows how the group got their abilities and how Tory adjusts to her new life in Charleston, South Carolina, after losing her mother. The series itself offers diverse representation and tons of laughs throughout.
If adapted, each season could follow each adventure the group partakes in and tackle various topics from grief to bullying. The short stories could even serve as specials or shorter films.
