6 Upcoming Book Adaptations Hitting Netflix, Prime & Apple in 2024
These bookshelf best-sellers are coming to your screens in the New Year.
Fool Me Once (Netflix )
Based on the novel by the same name
Written by: Harlan Coben
Genre: Thriller, Mystery
Two weeks after the brutal and unexplained murder of her husband Joe (Richard Armitage), Maya Stern (Michelle Keegan) is trying to pull her life together. She installs a nanny cam in her two-year-old daughter’s room, but when reviewing the footage she sees something shocking: Joe, visiting their daughter in secret.
Harlan Corben’s best selling mysteries have been snapped up by streaming platforms left, right, and center – so this is definitely not the last time you’ll see his name under a series title.
Expats (Amazon Prime)
Based on: The Expatriates
Written by: Janice Y. K. Lee
Genre: Drama
This 6-episode series follows three women living in an international community in Hong Kong. Margaret (Nicole Kidman) is living there with her family; Hilary (Sarayu Blue) is in the middle of marriage struggles; and Mercy (Ji-young Yoo) has recently graduated from a prestigious university.
When a tragedy impacts all three women, the lives of these three “expats” will be altered forever.
Expats made waves during production for the choice to film in Hong Kong, which is struggling against Chinese crackdowns of its democracy. In addition, Nicole Kidman’s exemption to strict Hong Kong quarantine rules made waves during the COVID filming window.
3 Body Problem ( Netflix)
Based on: The Three Body Problem
Written by: Liu Cixin
Genre: Sci fi, Thriller
David Benioff and D. B. Weiss of Game of Thrones fame (or infamy) are behind this limited series. Astrophysicist Ye Wenjie (Zine Tseng) witnesses the murder of her father during the Chinese Cultural Revolution. As an adult, she is conscripted by the Chinese military and sent to a remote and secret radar base.
The events of the 1960s have a ripple effect across time, and the series follows the impact of Ye’s decisions all the way to the present day – when scientists are dealing with an existential threat to all of humanity.
It’s hard to understate the complexity of Liu Cixin’s sprawling, multi-generational novel about family, politics, extraterrestrial life, and the nature of reality. But sneak peeks from the new series suggests that it will be worth the wait.
Lady in the Lake (Apple TV+ )
Based on the novel of the same name
Written by: Laura Lippman
Genre: Crime Drama
In 1960s Baltimore, Maddie Shwartz (Natalie Portman ) pulls away from her devoted husband as she becomes entrenched in life as an investigative reporter. Maddie becomes obsessed with the two murders: that of white child Tessie Fine and Black adult Cleo Sherwood.
Lippman took her inspiration from a pair of real-life murders that happened when she was growing up. The death of a white child was heavily publicized, while the murder of a Black woman was unreported by all but the Black-run newspapers of the time.
The Sympathizer ( HBO Max )
Based on the novel of the same name
Written by: Viet Thanh Nguyen
Genre: Historical, Comedy/Drama
Hoa Xuande stars as “the Captain”, a North Vietnamese Communist implanted in the South Vietnamese army as a spy during the 1960s. As the Vietnam War draws to an end, the Captain is forced to flee to America. Once an expat, he continues his work by spying on a community of refugees – but even as he reports back to the Viet Cong, he is being pulled in two directions by new connections and loyalties.
Robert Downey Jr. plays a variety of antagonists and is at times unrecognizable in the trailer.
A Gentleman in Moscow ( Paramount+)
Based on the novel by the same name
Written by: Amor Towles
Genre: Drama
After the Russian Revolution, Count Alexander Ilyich Rostov (Ewan McGregor ) is sentenced to house arrest for the crime of being an aristocrat. He lives in the attic of Moscow’s Metropol Hotel, where he had previously lived as a guest, and begins an extraordinary decades-long journey between its walls.
There’s no release date yet for A Gentleman in Moscow, which wrapped filming in 2023. In the meantime, we highly recommend the book – it’s beautiful, uplifting, and often very funny.