I’m sure most book lovers that maybe spend a bit too long on Twitter or Instagram have noticed the surge in movie or TV announcements of popular books, usually in the Young Adult genre. Daisy Jones & The Six, which was adapted from the novel by Taylor Jenkins Reid, was recently released weekly on Amazon Prime. It has gained loads of attention due to fans of the book and the show’s casting of Sam Claflin and Suki Waterhouse especially. Meanwhile, Shadow and Bone Season 2 was released all at once on Netflix in March, covering the Shadow and Bone trilogy and Six of Crows duology.
These two releases have gathered a lot of media attention, but there are multiple other adaptations that seem to be getting lost in the wind. Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe released a teaser for its movie last September, and although the movie has been screened at multiple festivals, it has still not been released on any streaming platforms. Red, White, and Royal Blue is receiving an Amazon Prime adaptation, but its official Twitter account has not posted any content since last October. Netflix announced their adaptation of The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo last March, but considering fans are still debating over who they want to see in the cast, no updates have been given since then.
The lack of marketing for these adaptations is concerning for a lot of book lovers. V. E. Schwab’s First Kill was given close to no media attention from Netflix, an invisible budget for CGI, and a cancellation that no one was surprised by last June. Schwab may have a second chance with a series adaptation of The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue, but barely any details have been released about that, either.
Young Adult book adaptations are no new concept in media, but it’s alarming how many announcements have been sent out and followed by months of radio static. It is unclear how these unreleased adaptations will fare once or if they hit screens, but so far, the excitement that they initially created has long since died down.