36 Literary Movies and TV Shows to Watch This Fall

Fall is the perfect time for curling up with a good book—or maybe a good movie. (We’re not monsters.) Even better if you can hit two birds with one stone, of course, and this after all is Literary Hub, so here we present the literary movies and TV shows—adaptations, documentaries, and other book-adjacent fare—we’re most looking forward to this season.* Let us know what you’re most excited for in the comments.

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*NB: For this preview, I’m only including TV series premieres (you should already know about Slow Horses) and film debuts in the US market.

Virginia Woolf’s Night & Day
In theaters, September 4

Literary bona fides: based on Night & Day by Virginia Woolf (1919)

You could say Virginia Woolf is having a moment, though personally, I’d have to argue, when isn’t she? This film, which adapts Woolf’s little-read second novel, is Woolf by way of John Hughes: an Edwardian-era rom-com about an astronomer who does everything in her power to avoid what is expected of her: getting married. Tina Gharavi directs based on a screenplay by Justine Waddell; Haley Bennett stars as Katherine Hilbery, with Lily Allen as Mary Datchet, Elyas M’Barek as Ralph Denham, and Jack Whitehall as William Rodney.

A Tale of Two Cities
MGM+, September 6

Literary bona fides: based on A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens (1859)

Kit Harrington and François Civil star as the lookalikes Sydney Carton and Charles Darnay, with Mirren Mack as Lucie Manette, in Daniel West’s four part miniseries adaptation of Dickens’ historical classic, directed by Richard R. Clark. Despite A Tale of Two Cities being frequently cited (including in this trailer) as one of the best selling novels of all time, this is the first notable screen adaptation since the ’80s. Reviews, alas, are mixed.

Masterpiece: Marble Hall Murders
PBS, September 6

Literary bona fides: based on Marble Hall Murders by Anthony Horowitz (2025)

The (supposed) final installment in the Susan Ryeland series finds the editor working on a curious manuscript, an Atticus Pünd continuation written by Eliot Crace, the grandson of the famous writer Miriam Crace, who claims that not only was his grandmother murdered, but that the secret is hidden within his book. Very good publicity tactic! Unless it somehow goes wrong… Lesley Manville and Tim McMullan return as Susan Ryeland and Atticus Pünd; Rebecca Gatward directs.

Last Seen
Apple TV, September 9

Literary bona fides: based on Ryan David Jahn’s The Dispatcher (2011)

Per our September streaming guide: Patrick Brammall stars in this Australian thriller, in which a police dispatcher receives a call from a young woman who sounds like his daughter—who has been missing for 11 years—and must (of course) find out the truth.

The Perfect Lie
Netflix, September 10

Literary bona fides: based on The Dinner Club by Saskia Noort (2004, English tr. 2007)

In this Dutch drama series based on Noort’s bestselling novel, four rich and glamorous couples are living the dream—until one of them dies in a mysterious house fire. Things begin to unravel, and Karen, the group’s newest member, finds herself pulling at threads, as everything she thought she knew about her new friends begins to unravel. The book has been pitched as “Desperate Housewives scripted by Patricia Highsmith,” which is very appealing, and it’s the first in a series, so this could be your new favorite thing.

Neagley
Prime Video, September 16

Literary bona fides: based on the character created by Lee Child

In which Maria Sten, aka Miss Denmark Universe 2008, aka Reacher‘s Frances Neagley, gets her own spin-off.

Practical Magic 2
In theaters, September 18

Literary bona fides: based on The Book of Magic by Alice Hoffman (2021)

28 years after the original cult classic (and Lit Hub favorite), the Owens sisters, and aunts, and daughters (now almost grown) are back to break the curse and conjure up some Millennial nostalgia. Will it be any good? Probably not, but at least everybody’s skin looks magically amazing!

The Master and Margarita
In theaters, September 18

Literary bona fides: based on The Master and Margarita by Mikhail Bulgakov (1967)

After a long and complicated legal battle, Michael Lockshin’s adaptation of one of the best novels of all time is coming stateside, after its huge success in Russia in 2024. I am hopeful for this anti-authoritarian fantasia, which has gotten very good reviews internationally, despite the fact that I have always considered it to be nigh unfilmable. The people want Behemoth!

The Love Hypothesis
Prime Video, September 23

Literary bona fides: based on Ali Hazelwood’s The Love Hypothesis (2021)

Per our September streaming guide: Tom Bateman and Lili Reinhart star in this adaptation of Hazelwood’s bestselling romance novel (which originated as Star Wars fan fiction, for whatever it’s worth). To be fair, it looks pretty cute.

My Sad Dead (Mis muertos tristes)
Netflix, September 24

Literary bona fides: based on Mariana Enriquez’s “My Sad Dead“

Very curious indeed: Pablo Larraín directs this horror miniseries, in which a doctor who can hear the dead discovers that her niece is blessed (or cursed) with a similar ability. The series is based on Enriquez’s 2023 story “My Sad Dead,” while also drawing from her other works; Enriquez adapted her own stories along with Larraín, Guillermo Calderón, and Anastasia Ayazi.

The Final Problem
Netflix, September 25

Literary bona fides: based on The Final Problem by Arturo Pérez-Reverte (2023, English tr. 2026)

This limited series manages to be doubly literary: it’s based on the best-selling novel by Pérez-Reverte and is inspired by Sherlock Holmes—that is, it concerns a retired actor famous for playing the famous detective, who finds himself playing detective for real when he’s stranded with 12 other people in a fancy hotel on a remote island…and one of them winds up dead. Fun!

East of Eden
Netflix, October 1

Literary bona fides: based on East of Eden by John Steinbeck (1952)

Zoe Kazan’s limited series, based on Steinbeck’s masterpiece, is thee marquee literary adaptation of the season, starring Florence Pugh as Cathy Ames, along with quite a few other hot people. Fun fact: Kazan’s grandfather Elia Kazan directed the 1955 adaptation. Think Zoe can top it?

Verity
In theaters, October 2

Literary bona fides: based on Verity by Colleen Hoover (2018)

Michael Showalter directs the latest Colleen Hoover joint (from a screenplay by Nick Antosca), in which an an unemployed writer (Dakota Johnson) is hired to finish the work of a bestselling—but mysteriously paralyzed—author (Anne Hathaway), only to discover a manuscript that makes her question who, exactly, she’s working for. Josh Hartnett is the husband, which should tell you everything you need to know.

Kill Jackie
Prime Video, October 2

Literary bona fides: based on The Price You Pay by Nick Harkaway as Aidan Truhen (2018)

Catherine Zeta-Jones—with her natural Welsh accent on full display for once!—stars as the gender-swapped Jackie Price, an art dealer with a past so checkered that no fewer than seven assassins are hired to kill her. Well, she’ll just have to kill them first, won’t she?

Carrie
Prime Video, October 7

Literary bona fides: based on Carrie by Stephen King (1974)

Mike Flanagan’s latest horror offering (and latest King adaptation) is a miniseries version of Carrie, the novel’s fourth screen adaptation, which reimagines the classic in a modern high school. “The themes that Steve was talking about half a century ago of kindness versus cruelty, of empathy and bullying, and violence at school have become even more relevant today than he could have contemplated because of our relationship to technology and the degree to which violence encroaches on our high schoolers, especially in the United States,” Flanagan told EW. “So that meant we had an opportunity to tell a story about a modern teenage experience that could use the seeds of these characters King created 50 years ago, but express them completely differently.” If anyone can do it, it’s Flanagan.

Other Mommy
In theaters, October 9

Literary bona fides: based on Incidents Around the House by Josh Malerman (2024)

Jessica Chastain plays both Mommy and Other Mommy in this upsetting-looking horror novel, which is about exactly what you think it’s about. The horror heads are hyped, but this scaredy-cat will be hiding in the corner.

Whalefall
In theaters, October 14

Literary bona fides: based on Whalefall by Daniel Kraus (2023)

Daniel Kraus co-wrote the screenplay for the adaptation of his thriller about a young scuba diver (Austin Abrams) who, while searching for the remains of his father (Josh Brolin), gets swallowed by a sperm whale. Yep, think 127 hours x Pinocchio. Or the Bible, I guess. Brian Duffield directs.

Sense and Sensibility
In theaters, October 16

Literary bona fides: based on Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen (1811)

The first of two major new Jane Austen adaptations this fall, directed by Georgia Oakley from a screenplay by Diana Reid, and starring Daisy Edgar-Jones as Elinor Dashwood and Esmé Creed-Miles as Marianne. Sense and Sensibility is somewhat less-trod than Pride and Prejudice (though don’t sleep on Ang Lee’s 1995 adaptation with Emma Thompson, Kate Winslet, Hugh Grant, and Alan Rickman) so I’m a bit more interested in it; let’s see what they do.

La Bola Negra
In theaters, October 16 / Netflix, December 2

Literary bona fides: inspired by Federico García Lorca’s unfinished novel of the same name, and Alberto Conejero’s La piedra oscura

Directors Javier Calvo and Javier Ambrossi (Los Javis) won the Best Director award at Cannes this year (shared, incidentally, with another entry on this list), for their queer epic, which was inspired by an unfinished work of the same name by Federico García Lorca (Alberto Cortés appears as the poet) and Alberto Conejero’s play. “We thought, ‘Let’s make the gayest war movie ever,'” Ambrossi said in a Q&A at Telluride. “That’s the politics behind this. And no one told us to change it a bit. And now, here we are.” As for Lorca’s work, “It made me understand the importance of art in a physical way—the things that come to us, the pieces of art from past generations that tell us about who we were and what happened to us,” Calvo said. “At a time when art is being questioned, we have to remind ourselves that it speaks the best language.”

Klara and the Sun
In theaters, October 23

Literary bona fides: based on Klara and the Sun by Kazuo Ishiguro (2021)

Taika Waititi’s Klara is certainly star-studded: Jenna Ortega is the titular Artificial Friend, and Amy Adams, Mia Tharia, Aran Murphy, Steve Buscemi, and Natasha Lyonne round out the cast. But will it, one wonders, be as goofy as it seems from the trailer? Ishiguro’s novel is a haunting, sad story about loss and time passing and the nature of humanity, and this seems quite a bit cuter than that. Still, Waititi has called it “his most dramatic movie yet,” so there may be some introspection yet.

Fatherland
Mubi, October 23

Literary bona fides: concerning the writer Thomas Mann

Sandra Hüller and Hanns Zischler star as Erika and Thomas Mann on a road trip in 1949 Germany in Paweł Pawlikowski’s latest film, for which he won Best Director at Cannes. Aside from the fact that one should always see anything with Hüller in it, the film has already garnered glowing reviews, including from The Guardian‘s Peter Bradshaw, who called it “an impossibly elegant, poised historical vignette whose brevity and control can hardly contain its characters’ personal and historical pain.”

Wicker
In theaters, October 23

Literary bona fides: based on “The Wicker Husband” by Ursula Wills (2008)

Olivia Colman is a smelly medieval fisherwoman who marries—checks notes—a basket? No, it’s a man made out of wicker, played by Alexander Skarsgård, with whom she then proceeds to have nonstop hot sex, rather disturbing the denizens of their little village. Throw in Peter Dinklage as the master weaver who builds her dream man, Richard E. Grant as the town doctor, and the very literary tagline “a hard man is good to find,” and I, my friends, am very interested. Actually, I think I do have some baskets around here somewhere…

Wildwood
In theaters, October 23

Literary bona fides: based on Wildwood by Colin Meloy and Carson Ellis (2011)

After more than 15 years, Laika’s ambitious stop-motion adaptation of Wildwood is finally coming to theaters. “A huge part of the reason it’s taken us so long to bring this to life cinematically is that it’s incredibly ambitious,” says director Travis Knight. “We’ve had to build up the creative tools, the technology and our storytelling muscles to do this book justice.” Quite a statement considering all five previous films produced by Laika have been nominated for Best Animated Feature Oscars. Maybe this will be the year they win?

Nocturne
Apple TV, October 30

Literary bona fides: based on The Sandman and Lazarus by Lars Kepler (2012, 2018)

Liev Schreiber stars as Jonah Lynn in this adaptation of the bestselling Swedish thrillers (written by husband and wife team Alexander Ahndoril and Alexandra Coelho Ahndoril under the name Lars Kepler), a former homicide detective who relocates to a small town in Pennsylvania town, only to find its citizens being terrorized by a notorious serial killer Jurek Walter (Stephen Graham), despite the fact that he’s already behind bars. Finally Jonah must call on Saga Bauer (Zazie Beetz), his surrogate daughter, to try and get Jurek to talk before it’s too late.

The Mosquito Bowl
In theaters, October 30 / Netflix, November 25

Literary bona fides: based on The Mosquito Bowl by Buzz Bissinger (2022)

Peter Berg and Buzz Bissinger are back together again, this time for The Mosquito Bowl, which dramatizes the famous American football game played between two regiments of Marines—which included many of the country’s best football players—at Guadalcanal during World War II. Nicholas Galitzine, Bill Skarsgård, Ray Nicholson, and Tom Francis star.

Yaga
AMC+, October TBA

Literary bona fides: based on Yaga by Kat Sandler (2019)

Canadian playwright Kat Sandler has turned her 2019 play based on the legend of Baba Yaga into a television show for Canada’s Crave (the same platform that brought us Heated Rivalry). And yes, Hudson Williams is in it, along with Carrie-Anne Moss, Noah Reid, and Clark Backo. Looks deranged; I’ll watch it!

The Good Daughter
Peacock, November 12

Literary bona fides: based on The Good Daughter by Karin Slaughter (2017)

In Karin Slaughter’s adaptation of her own instant New York Times bestseller, Rose Byrne and Meghann Fahy star as sisters whose lives were upended by violence decades before, and now find themselves forced to face it again. Brendan Gleeson also stars, which is never a bad sign.

Victorian Psycho
In theaters, November 13

Literary bona fides: based on Victorian Psycho by Virginia Feito (2025)

From the look of things, Feito’s macabre sense of humor has been ably translated to the screen—not surprising, as she wrote the screenplay herself. Zachary Wigon directs, and Maika Monroe stars as Winifred Notty, a governess who tries and fails not to be a complete, well, psycho in this irreverent, gory horror.

Ebenezer
In theaters, November 13

Literary bona fides: based on A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens (1843)

I leave this here not as a recommendation, exactly, but because the concept is so tone-deaf as to be deeply hilarious: Well, everyone knows Ebenezer Scrooge was an evil, wealthy miser who hated Christmas. What Ti West’s new movie presupposes is… maybe he wasn’t? Johnny Depp stars (they really want to make sure you understand that Johnny! Depp! Stars!) in this revisionist adaptation of the adapted-to-death Dickens novella, which attempts to, ahem, make a case for Scrooge. The evil rich guy. In 2026. “In other adaptations, Scrooge is kind of an asshole, and then the rest of the characters are benevolent, perfect people. And it was really our goal to try to balance that out to say that there’s much more of a gray area in the story,” West told EW. “We want to give Scrooge logic and a good argument, so when he is making an argument about something, he’s not wrong.” It’s “the name you know, the story you don’t.” Sure, but couldn’t these 38 million dollars be better spent elsewhere?

The Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping
In theaters, November 20

Literary bona fides: based on Sunrise on the Reaping by Suzanne Collins (2025)

Suzanne Collins keeps churning out the prequels, and Hollywood keeps making them. This one is supposedly based on the work of philosopher David Hume. Ok!

Blade Runner 2099
Prime Video, November 25

Literary bona fides: based on characters from Philip K. Dick’s Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? (1968)

Michelle Yeoh and Hunter Schafer star in Silka Luisa’s miniseries spin-off, which, as the title suggests, takes place 50 years after the events of Blade Runner 2049. Now, it’s Replicants who rule the world (or at least LA), and humans who find themselves at the bottom of the barrel, which honestly sounds like the franchise’s most realistic version of the future yet.

Clarissa
In theaters, December 11

Literary bona fides: based on Mrs. Dalloway by Virginia Woolf (1925)

Another Virginia Woolf adaptation, this one a reimagining of Mrs. Dalloway set in contemporary Lagos. Directed and produced by Arie Esiri and Chuko Esiri, the film stars Sophie Okonedo as Clarissa, along with David Oyelowo, India Amarteifio, Toheeb Jimoh, Nikki Amuka-Bird, and Ayo Edebiri. Looks gorgeous, and early reviews are very promising. Can’t wait for this one.

Ink
In theaters, December 11

Literary bona fides: based on Ink by James Graham (2017)

Guy Pearce is Rupert Murdoch and Jack O’Connell is Larry Lamb in this story about the former’s 1969 takeover of British tabloid The Sun—and what happened after. “The movie treats this transition, and the soaring rise in under a decade of the relaunched Sun to become the country’s highest-circulation daily, as a raucous caper, in which the Mephistophelean Murdoch seduces Lamb into a Faustian pact that gradually sees the editor eclipse his employer in bottom line-driven ruthlessness,” writes David Rooney in The Hollywood Reporter. “It’s all visually stimulating and highly enjoyable in its anti-establishment attitude, even if the impression remains that this is a morality play with an elusive point of view.” The legendary Danny Boyle directs, with a screenplay adapted by Graham from his stage play.

Dune: Part Three
In theaters, December 18

Literary bona fides: based on Dune Messiah by Frank Herbert (1969)

Now with even more Dune.

Pride and Prejudice
Netflix, Fall 2026

Literary bona fides: based on Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen (1813)

There is no release date set for Dolly Alderton’s six-part miniseries adaptation of Austen’s most beloved property, but the hype is real. (The Austen adaptations keep coming, and we all keep lining up to watch.) Emma Corrin stars as Elizabeth Bennet, and Slow Horses’ Jack Lowden is Mr. Darcy, but I have to say I’m most excited to see Olivia Colman and Rufus Sewell as Mrs. and Mr. Bennet. Euros Lyn (Heartstopper) directs.

Unaccustomed Earth
Netflix, Fall 2026

Literary bona fides: based on Unaccustomed Earth by Jhumpa Lahiri (2008)

Though we have yet to see a trailer, or even any images from set, Netflix tells us that Madhuri Shekar’s series adaptation of Lahiri’s bestselling short story collection will be “an epic, soapy drama about an immigrant community navigating love, desire, and belonging. . . . When a star-crossed romance between a devoted wife (Freida Pinto) and her long-lost love (Siddharth) comes to light, a scandalous affair is born, and new battle lines are drawn in the elite, insular Indian American community of Cambridge, Massachusetts.” I’m listening.