While we had varying degrees of satisfaction around the latest season of Bridgerton, I think we all agree it’s excellent to see romance novels adapted for TV. Given how wildly successful Bridgerton has been, I have to believe that entertainment industry execs are eagerly looking for other love stories to bring to the small screen.
I, unsurprisingly, have several suggestions.
I’ve long wanted to see the Chronicles of Prydain adapted. Some have claimed this is the greatest fantasy series ever written and while I can’t say that–I am firmly wedded to His Dark Materials–this quintet, loosely based on Welsh myth, is marvelous and has one of my favorite love stories in fantasy. Taran, an Assistant Pig Keeper, over the course of the story, has adventures, finds out who he truly is, makes great friends, defeats a horrific evil, and falls in love with a princess, the supremely competent Eilonwy. There are hilarious and horrifying witches, beasts with souls, earth shaking battles, and, woven through all of this, a superbly sound sense of honor. This needs to happen!
Holly Black’s Folk of the Air books would be riveting. Black does urban fantasy better than almost anyone else and this story is just so freaking good. (I gave all three books a DIK.) As I wrote in my review of Queen of Nothing,
The Folk of Air is exquisite enchantment–gorgeous, absorbing, lavish with magic, love, and conflict. The books build on one another beautifully, each deepening the complex narrative and illuminating the dispositions and motivations of the characters. The principals here, varied and satisfyingly authentic, are among the believable I’ve encountered in fantasy.
And the romance between Cardan and Jude is sexy, smart, and feminist. What more could we want?
Given that it’s Taylor Swift’s decade, it would be great fun to see Jenny Holiday’s Famous made into something–movie or mini-series, I don’t care. An adaptation of this could explore fame, social media, female musicians, heroines who are far more successful than their partners, rural vs. urban America, what matters in art, and more. Emerson Quinn and Evan Winslow are the bomb, both separately and together and really, who doesn’t want to see a woman like Taylor Swift get a happy ever after with a truly good man?
How about making sure the possible filming of Alexa Martin’s series Playbook happens? We’ve given the books three DIKs and one B+–if you haven’t read them, you’re missing out. These stories are wonderfully done and not only for people who love sports romances–this seems like a great series for everyone, not just romance readers. Martin’s characters are grounded in their lives and face compelling obstacles. Her prose is sharp and witty and all of her love stories are viable in our current era. Martin is the wife of an ex-NFL star; needless to say, her world building is on point.
How about you? What would you like to see on the silver screen?
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Doesn’t some of the decisionmaking around the series to adapt depend on the producer’s goals rather than the series or writer? If the tv execs or the producers want a series with lots of people of color, varied sexual identities, and freedom from historical nitpicking, then English Georgian and Regency series are not where they should be looking. Science fiction and fantasy would be more productive.
Sometimes I wonder if people looking for fresh tv show ideas should be skimming fan fiction instead of published authors, or asking working authors to create a custom world for the show. Could an author of Regencies create a parallel-universe Regency, say with plumbing, more diversity, a princess that does not die in childbirth, or other variations?
There are actually two quite recent book series that I always thought would be awesome as TV adaptions: the London Steampunk series by Bec McMaster and the London Celebrities series by Lucy Parker. If that ever came to pass, my biggest concern, especially for London Steampunk, would be that the adaption would stray too far from the original. I belong to those Bridgerton viewers who feel completely let down by all the alterations they have made and I wasn’t even that much a fan of the books…. Oh, the devastation if a book I actually adore was thusly “ruined”!!!!!
The London Steampunk would be AWESOME!
Would love to see what the costume department would come up with for Blade’s wardrobe… lol
Just reread my post and thought it needs some clarification… I was not disappointed in the slightest by the racial diversity or inclusive sexuality of Bridgerton, although the alternate Regency London might have warranted a deeper explanation than was given. What REALLY bothered me were the alterations to the storylines. In season 1 it wasn’t quite as bad as in season 2, but bad enough already.
If something like that was done to my favourite book series, I’d howl in frustration…
I too loved the diversity and inclusion. I ALSO thought the plotlines in S2 weren’t strongly written and settled for shock rather than coherence.
I think a couple of Martha Wells’ series could make great adaptations: Murderbot as a SF series, and the Raksura books as an animated series.
Lois McMasters Bujold’s Miles Vorkosigan books. That would be a huge challenge, of course.
I think the Honor Harrington books might work well as a long TV series — because the producers would strip out so much of the political infodumps that got me stalled after reading several books. :)
I would love a Dragonriders of Pern series, but I’m afraid of what they would do with it. Some of the content has not aged well. (Ahem, F’nor.) And I’d hate for someone to use those aspects to turn it into a sort of “Game of Thrones” type thing.
Yes to Bujold on a theoretical basis, but I don’t know how they’d find a fabulous actor who could portray Miles as he is in the books. And if they couldn’t do it justice (because Miles has to be severely damaged by the circumstances of his birth) what would be the point? He is as he is because of his physical defects. That’s not the right word but I don’t know how else to say it. CGI, maybe, but that would be expensive. Plus personality quirks. Very, very hard. Some of the supporting cast would also be a huge challenge to recreate. (Bel, Taura, the Quaddies…)
I’ve heard many requests for a tv series or movies based on the In Death series and think it has great potential, but there you’d have another problem casting Roarke, who is impossibly good looking (plus the Irish charm).
I would like to see Dragonriders as a tv series, but I have only reread some of the books recently, so while I think you are right that some things have not aged well (and other things are problematic, such as mating flights), I am sorry to admit I am missing the reason for F’nor being a problem. I would want the adaptation for tv to be true to the overall feeling of the books.
I would hate to see a Pern tv series that veered so far off track as I felt the Bridgerton series did. (I really did not care for the depiction of the court presentation with the queen acting like a restless, petulant toddler and without all the throwback dresses with hoops and plumes. I was also unenthusiastic about Quinn’s lackadaisical historical research.) I don’t want McCaffrey’s work to be used as a concept and scaffolding to build a show that is radically different than her novels.
Many consider F’nor’s first love scene with Brekke to be rape. Others think it was coerced sex (so more like “forced seduction). It’s vague enough that it can go a number of ways. It was one of those “reluctance turns to passion” scenes. I never noticed when I first read it — until I read a couple of more recent POVs about it. (Language warning on the first link!)
Oh, right, thanks for the reminder. Definitely a scene I had forgotten about, but one I don’t approve of now. And that scene is quite a contrast to the mating flight scene between F’lessan and Tia inThe Skies of Pern. Changing the scene between F’nor and Brekke in a tv script would be the kind of adaptation I could get onboard with. Plus, McCaffrey has shown she can write something less toxic.
I adore the Chronicles of Prydain (I own a beautiful hardcover set) and agree they would make a great TV series.
We have been talking a lot about the Rockton series by Kelley Armstrong on the site and I think that would make an awesome series too.
The Rockton series would be interesting. I think it would be harder, if you actually saw it, to believe the town could be hidden.
I was thinking the other day that Ilona Andrew’s Innkeeper Series would be so much fun as a TV series. They have humor, action, romance and wonderful story lines. The special effects would be awesome.
I’m already wishing someone would adapt C.S.Poe’s The Madison Square Murders, and her steampunk Magic and Steam m/m series would so much fun.
I agree with June that there are great LGBTQ+ books out there that would probably adapt very well to TV. KJ Charles, of course, as well as books by Cat Sebastian. I’m sure Gregory Ashe’s books would make great, gritty police procedurals, although I’d be too stressed out to watch!
Lynn Flewelling’s Nightrunner series would be interesting, with m/m lovers in a fantasy setting.
I haven’t read those. I’ll have to look them up. Thanks!
I think for Bridgerton Fans one of Lisa Kleypas’s series like the The Hathaways or The Wallflowers would be really charming on the small screen.
Personally I have always found her a much better author than Julia Quinn. I think her characters are far more interesting and nuanced and I enjoy the families and worlds she creates.
Agree. Lisa Kleypas’ books are a bit deeper and more emotional than Julia Quinn, although I do enjoy both authors. I would enjoy seeing the Wallflowers, the Hathaways or the Ravenels.
If I had to pick a historical romance series, I’d pick Joanna Bourne’s Spymasters.
I love it so much and have SUCH strong opinions I don’t know if I could enjoy it if they deviated as much as they do with Bridgerton and rewrite the stories. I think it’s too close to my heart. Unless they did it at the level of Outlander.
Every time I read online discussions about how Benedict and/or Eloise Bridgerton should be LGBTQ+, I want to jump in and tell the participants that we’d be much better off if someone just adapted the collected works of KJ Charles instead. I’d start with the Society of Gentlemen books, but would absolutely watch the adventures of Susan Lazarus, Lady Detective.
Sherry Thomas’s books – all her historical romances are linked and I think they could really be popular among Bridgerton fans. Let’s call this The Luckiest Ladies in London, because I’d especially enjoy seeing Louisa and Felix’s story, as well as Helena and Hastings sniping at one another.
An adaptation of either of Dorothy Dunnett’s series would also be very cool. I doubt it will ever happen, though.
As someone who is disappointed with the way much of the bridgerton world was adapted so far, – I get it, tv is a different medium, I don’t expect the show to copy the books word for word, scene for scene but I feel that a lot of what makes the books wonderful was left out of the show leaving me to wonder why they bothered to acquire and adapt JQs books if they weren’t going to stay true to the fundamentals of the characters she wrote. They should just have written whatever story they liked and gone with that.
If they can’t even do right by the bridgerton books (which we can agree are a bit wallflowery), I shudder to think of what they would make of Sherry Thomas’. I love her books and do a re-read yearly of almost all of them – Felix and Louisa’s story is one of my all time favorites and I’d rather they didn’t ruin it by putting it on tv
A pilot script covering the start of Dorothy Dunnett’s The Game of Kings from Mammoth Screen the TV company responsible for Victoria and Poldark was submitted to the BBC in 2018. But since then nothing has come of it.
Vikings are popular right now. They should do King Hereafter instead and leave Lymond alone.
They are backing off of the Benedict being bisexual vibe that they had in the first season.
I agree that it would be much better to adapt a story that was written around an LGBTQ+ main character than try to change or cobble a story together and not do it well.
Though I rarely read thrillers/detective fiction, I did read and loved Faye Kellerman’s Peter Decker/Rina Lazarus novels. I read ages ago that a TV series was planned but don’t recall seeing anything further. A TV series would be my kind of cat mint. If I missed an adaptation, please tell me where I can find it.
The first Rina Lazarus book was the first book I’ve ever read that discussed the mikvah. Not being Jewish, I’d never heard of it before. I found that book FASCINATING. I read the first four maybe and then moved on. But that would be so cool to have that world in a TV show.
I also loved that they were set in the San Fernando Valley where, many moons ago, I worked and lived so the street names, places, etc. were familiar to me. It’s why I also love The Rookie, SWAT and Bosch. A little mini trip home from England :-)