The incredible success of Game of Thrones on HBO has led to a flurry of TV and movie adaptations of some great books and graphic novels… It is indeed a good time to be alive!

It seems that cable / streaming TV is the way to go, as GoT and The Walking Dead can attest. There are other great adaptations in mainstream TV worth a look (the BBC recently adapted Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell… I thought it was terrific. Highly recommended). But more and more you see the likes of HBO, Showtime, Starz, AMC, Amazon and Netflxix producing extremely good adaptations (see Netflix’s Daredevil for one) and are constantly in th rumour mill for he next BIG thing.

There are countless rumours about new TV adaptations of some of my favourite books, but many times they just stay in development hell and you never know if you’ll actually get to see them (The Dark Tower, Sandman, Y: The Last Man, to name a few). And then they do manage to make a film out of it, and it ends up being terrible or unoriginal (Under the Dome, for instance). So, always a mixed bag, and always a sense of apprehension when someone takes your all-time favourite book and makes a mess of it on TV… And then you spend quite a lot of time telling people that they should still give the book a go!

Here are a couple of upcoming or rumoured TV shows based on books or comics which I will definitely be tuning in:

American Gods, Starz

After years in development at HBO, it seems someone finally managed to get this amazing novel in shape to make it a TV show. I couldn’t recommend Neil Gaiman’s classic more, so really hoping they do a good job with it. As far as I know, Neil Gaiman is even doing some of the writing, which is always a good sign (like win GoT). Production will begin early in 2016, and casting is ongoing. It’s still early, don’t think we’ll get to see it till 2017, but put me down as very excited for this one.

Preacher, AMC

 

Not content with the success of The Walking Dead, AMC went out to see what other comic book they could turn into a hit, and chose Preacher.

Here’s the trailer:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pjoYn-0LfMg

For those unfamiliar, the story follows a Preacher, his ex-girlfriend and an Irish Vampire, as they look to track down God and get him to get back to work. The comic series is really really good, and looks like it’s getting the star treatment for TV. It’s scheduled to premier mid 2016, and looks very promising.
11-22-63, Hulu

Stephen King’s genre spinning novel involves a man who finds a way to travel back in time and seek to stop the JFK assassination. It’s an incredible book, beautifully written, and one of my top rent reads. Here’s the trailer of the miniseries…

Looks really good. It comes out early next year.

I’m sure we will get to see many other books being made into TV shows which will have us all very very excited (I heard The Name of the Wind may be getting the TV treatment soon!!). But for the time being, if the three listed above are made right, count me hooked!