TV shows adapted from books

Literature is full of beautiful stories, stories that have accompanied us for years, even centuries, characters we love, hate, or miss when we close a book. You’ve read books many times and imagined heroes, put a face on them in your imagination… But most of the time, television does this for you. Many of the best TV shows we love today are series based on books, stories that are already out there.

Dracula and Sherlock Holmes have accompanied us for centuries, as they have been since our childhood. There are many series based on the books that we currently have on streaming platforms like Netflix, HBO or Prime Video. Of course, not all are like that, but there are some of the most successful of recent times or some of the great classics.

You’ll get to know them very well, not just because they’re series based on books, but because they’re huge successes of mainstream streaming platforms. You’ll see big productions like Game of Thrones.

Game of Thrones

When George R.R. Martin published his A Song of Ice and Fire series of novels in the 1990s, few knew what would happen next. Game of Thrones is and remains one of the most important TV series of recent times or history, with millions of viewers worldwide and Martin’s novels selling more than 24 million copies worldwide in 2013. Nearly 30 years after its release, Game of Thrones is one of the best series based on the books.

Game of Thrones tells the story of the battle to conquer the Seven Kingdoms and win the Iron Throne, for anyone who doesn’t know yet. A series of strategies and wars, a struggle between power, homelands to get rid of the others and conquer Westeros. Dragons, alliances, strategies, armies and battles on land, sea and air are the stars of all 73 episodes of a major series.

Bridgerton

More than 82 million households worldwide watched Bridgerton in its first month on Netflix. It is one of the must-haves of the platform for period and romantic series lovers, which has broken today’s record and made it one of the most popular TV series of the platform. Amstad, power, aristocracy. Based on the novels by Julia Quinn and created by Shonda Rhimes, Bridgerton follows the aristocracy. A family of London high society, eight Bridgerton brothers. The series specifically focuses on the story of Phoenbe Dynevor, who plays Daphne Bridgerton, and her relationship with the Duke of Hastings, played by Regé-Jean Page. More seasons are expected, but if you’re looking for the best series based on novels, this is undoubtedly one of the platform’s greatest achievements.

Lupin

Lupine uses the novels of Maurice Leblanc to give life to a new character, a new story. It is not a series adapted from a book using original characters, but rather the inspiration of the famous white-collar thief Assane Diop, the protagonist of this fiction. Diop is the son of a Senegalese immigrant convicted of a crime he did not commit. Out of embarrassment, he committed suicide as a child. Now, a smart and resourceful man seeks revenge in a short, funny, dynamic series. A clever series that takes us to the Louvre, to Paris, to a Paris that feels like classic thief novels but is up-to-date and attractive.

It is a series that may not be the best of the year, but with only five episodes of about an hour, you will be addicted. In addition, a second season has been confirmed that will unravel the many unknowns that the first season left open, and we’ll continue to see how Omar Sy combines current with flashbacks to explain his childhood, the reason for his revenge, his creativity.

Sherlock

The character of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, adapted from the books and collecting the best TV series you can see right now, was “first, my dear Watson”, to be included in the list. Sherlock Holmes was created at the end of the 19th century by a Scottish writer, a talented, intelligent and very careful English detective. A legendary character that has been brought into versions and adaptations countless times, has appeared in movies or plays. And one of the best spy shows on Netflix: Sherlock.

Benedit Cumberbatch brings the famous British spy to life in a series of investigative and detective, intelligence and observation, police cases, mystery, manhunts and standalone stories that work well on their own but even better as a whole. A thirteen-episode mini-series of approximately ninety minutes in which Sherlock Holmes and his partner Watson will have to confront the evil Moriarty or any of the mysteries that will unfold after the episode.

House of Cards

Michael Dobbs began his career as a writer in the late 1980s with a title that now sounds a lot like the TV series: House of Cards. It was the first of a thriller trilogy but went much further and became the American series we know today, with six seasons and more than 70 episodes since its February 1, 2013 premiere. A series about politics and power, affects the company, but also corruption and business, relationships.

House of Cards is one of the best TV shows of the last decade. What many don’t know is that it is one of the best series adapted from the books and was born as a story on paper. The story of Frank Underwood, and his rise to power thanks to his control of the business network, is one of those must-have series that we need to go over our to-do list sometime, and that’s undoubtedly worth spending six years on. It is available on the streaming platform and has 73 episodes.

13 Reasons Why

13 Reasons Why is one of the best Netflix shows for teens and a “must” for all high school teens. A drama produced by Selena Gómez, born from Jay Asher’s 2007 novel of the same name, which reached number one on the New York Times bestseller list in 2011. Ten years after its release, Netflix launched an original series, starring Hannah Baker.

Hannah Baker is the protagonist of this story, a teenager who committed suicide. A high school girl who decided to end her life, but first recorded seven tapes in which she would explain why she did it, or who the thirteen people were “guilty” for her death. It’s a series of critiques and reflections of adolescence, but above all one that totally immerses us in bullying and the problems it can cause.

The Handmaid’s Tale

An authoritarian state that sees women as their property. One of the most successful stories and best HBO productions of recent times, The Handmaid’s Tale was developed in Gilead. The original story based on Margaret Atwood’s novel ended, but the series continued with new episodes that tell us about life in Gilead.

A dystopian fiction in which Gilead ceases to belong to the United States and now has its own rules: women belong to the state, are forced into sexual slavery, and fertile women are presented to the families of leaders to repopulate the world. The protagonists are separated from their children and partners in a harsh series filled with totalitarianism.