Beyond the Emmys — More TV Adaptations In the Pipeline
Book adaptations are not only hot in the film industry, they’ve also become a major source for TV, as evidenced by the nominations for the upcoming Emmy Awards (there’s so many this year that Word & Film created a Book Lover’s Look at the 2014 Emmy Nominations. led, of course, by Game of Thrones).
Many more are in the pipeline. Outlander begins August 9. Upcoming is Olive Kitteridge (HBO, November), Fresh Off the Boat (ABC) and Astronaut Wives Club (also ABC).
In total, we are tracking 35 titles that have been announced for TV adaptation. We know because we recently organized our adaptation information into a spreadsheet, EarlyWord’s Upcoming Book Adaptations,
Here are a few highlights:
Wolf Hall — The BBC series based on Hilary Mantel’s bestseller and its sequel, Bring Up the Bodies, is currently filming (see photos from the set).
American Gods — Neil Gaiman — After HBO announced they has passed on their planned adaptation of Gaiman’s book, Starz picked it up earlier this month. Gaiman gave fans hope when he told the Guardian, “It already looks like it’s going to be a smoother run developing it than it had at HBO.” New York magazine, however, dumped rain on the parade with, “Why Adapting Neil Gaiman’s American Gods for TV Is a Bad Idea.The companion novel, Anansi Boys, is being developed by BBC, but there’s been no news since the February announcement. Meanwhile, Warner Bros. is moving along with its adaptation of Gaiman’s graphic novel, The Sandman, as a feature film, with Joseph Gordon-Levitt set to play Morpheus The Lord of Dreams. It is expected for release in 2016.
The Clan Of The Cave Bear — based on Jean M. Auel’s Earth’s Children series — Although it was made into a disastrous movie in 1986, starring Daryl Hannah, Ron Howard seems to think he can do better. Lifetime has set him up to executive produce a pilot.
The Magicians — Syfy has greenlighted a pilot for an adaptation of Lev Grossman’s fantasy trilogy.
The Last Kingdom — Bernard Cornwell — The Saxon Stories series — Named after the first book in the series, it is set to begin filming this fall, BBC America has hired the producers of Downton Abbey to run the production.