10 New Fantasy Books We Desperately Need Adaptations Of
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Fantasy adaptations have become one of the biggest battlegrounds in entertainment, but there is still no shortage of incredible novels waiting for their chance on screen. The genre has moved far beyond traditional medieval kingdoms, with recent books offering everything from supernatural secret societies and vampire immortals to magical crime families and wildly inventive takes on Arthurian legend.
The best candidates are not simply books with enormous worlds or obvious blockbuster potential. They are stories with characters, settings, mysteries, and visual concepts that could become something special in the hands of the right filmmakers. From celebrated recent releases to books already trapped in development, these ten deserve serious consideration for television or film.
10 Piranesi by Susanna Clarke
Susanna Clarke's Piranesi would be an extraordinary limited series or film because its setting practically demands to be seen, and the rights to the book are currently owned by Studio Laika. Published in 2020, the 272-page novel follows Piranesi, a man living inside an enormous House filled with endless halls, statues, tides, clouds, and mysterious messages. The book won the 2021 Women's Prize for Fiction, cementing its reputation as modern fantasy.
The adaptation challenge is exactly what makes it exciting. The House is not simply a backdrop; it is effectively another character, and its scale would create an atmosphere unlike most fantasy television. Rather than relying on nonstop battles, a filmmaker could build the story around architectural wonder, isolation, fragmented memories, and the steadily unfolding mystery surrounding the Other.
9 The Isle in the Silver Sea by Tasha Suri
Tasha Suri's The Isle in the Silver Sea is a particularly tempting adaptation because it combines fantasy and romance while centering the power of storytelling itself. It would be an amazing book to screen adaptation because of the novels sense of adventure, beauty, and grand love story.
That mixture could translate beautifully to television, particularly with a production willing to focus on atmosphere as much as plot. Suri's work is known for richly textured worlds and emotionally complicated characters, making this the kind of fantasy that could appeal beyond conventional genre audiences. A sweeping island setting, layered mythology, and romance would give a series plenty of visual and emotional hooks.
8 The Green Bone Saga by Fonda Lee
Fonda Lee's Green Bone Saga is almost suspiciously well suited to television. The completed trilogy consists of Jade City, Jade War, and Jade Legacy, following the Kaul family and rival clans in the modern, Asia-inspired metropolis of Kekon. Jade gives certain people extraordinary abilities, but Lee treats it as a resource shaped by economics, politics, trade, and power.
The series actually came close before. Peacock announced a Jade City adaptation, but the project was ultimately dropped. Lee later said the saga was being pursued elsewhere. The cancellation only makes the case for another attempt stronger. Martial-arts action, clan warfare, family drama, international politics, and jade-powered abilities could make this a prestige fantasy series with a genuinely distinctive identity.
Legends & Lattes proves fantasy does not need kingdoms collapsing every five minutes to make compelling television. Travis Baldree's cozy fantasy follows Viv, an orc adventurer who retires from a violent life and opens a coffee shop in the city of Thune. The premise is intentionally low-stakes, but Viv's new business brings together a memorable collection of characters, rivalries, romance, and found family.
The story has already shown its visual potential through an upcoming 208-page graphic-novel adaptation due October 6, 2026. A live-action series of Legends & Lattes could lean into warm production design, magical food, eccentric customers, and the comforting rhythms of running a small business. In a crowded fantasy market, its greatest advantage might simply be that it feels completely different.
6 The Bright Sword by Lev Grossman
Lev Grossman's The Bright Sword is a fresh excuse to revisit Arthurian legend without retelling the same familiar story. Published July 16, 2024, the 688-page novel begins after the Battle of Camlann, with Arthur already dead and most of the legendary Round Table destroyed. Young knight Collum arrives at Camelot expecting glory and instead discovers a handful of forgotten survivors.
That setup could make an incredible prestige series. Grossman focuses on characters who usually occupy the margins of Arthurian legend, including Sir Palomides, Sir Dagonet, and Nimue, while Morgan le Fay and the returning old gods push the story into stranger territory. The combination of recognizable mythology and genuinely unexpected character choices could help the adaptation stand apart from previous Camelot projects.
5 The Will of the Many by James Islington
James Islington's The Will of the Many is practically built for viewers who enjoy fantasy mixed with political intrigue and competitive academic settings. Published in 2023, the novel introduces Caten, a Roman-inspired society where lower-ranking citizens surrender portions of their physical and mental energy, known as Will, to those above them. Vis Telimus enters the elite Catenan Academy while secretly investigating deadly conspiracies.
The cinematic appeal comes from the combination of school rivalries and enormous political stakes. The academy could provide the immediate character drama, while Caten's oppressive hierarchy supplies the larger conflict. With The Strength of the Few published in 2025, there is also already more of Islington's story available to support a longer adaptation, and Sony has the rights to the series, but has not done anything with them yet.
4 Ninth House by Leigh Bardugo
Ninth House has one of the clearest television premises on this list: secret societies at Yale are actually practicing dangerous magic, and the ghosts haunting the university are very real. Leigh Bardugo's 2019 adult fantasy introduced Galaxy “Alex” Stern, who can see the dead and becomes entangled with Yale's occult organizations.
The frustrating part is that an adaptation has been circling for years. Prime Video acquired the project in 2019, and Bardugo has discussed co-writing the pilot, but the series remains stuck without a release. The ingredients are still irresistible: dark academia, murder, occult rituals, privilege, ghosts, and secret organizations hiding behind one of America's most famous universities.
3 The Devils by Joe Abercrombie
Joe Abercrombie's The Devils is perhaps the easiest title here to imagine as a gloriously excessive fantasy movie. Published in 2025, the 576-page novel follows a deeply dysfunctional collection of monsters, criminals, and killers assembled for a mission involving a political heir and a Europe facing famine, plague, and hungry elves.
There is already a major adaptation attached to the book: James Cameron acquired the film rights. Abercrombie said in August 2026 that the project is moving, although slowly, emphasizing that there are no guarantees with adaptations. Given the material's grotesque comedy, violence, monsters, and enormous personalities, Cameron's involvement makes The Devils particularly intriguing.
2 Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil by V.E. Schwab
V.E. Schwab's Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil offers a vampire story that deliberately avoids feeling like another variation on familiar immortal-romance formulas. Published June 10, 2025, the novel follows three women whose lives intersect across centuries, with their stories spanning different eras and exploring hunger, freedom, identity, love, and loneliness.
That structure could make an ambitious limited series, especially because the story moves through radically different historical periods. The vampires themselves are also unapologetically dangerous, making room for horror alongside the more emotional material. Rather than building another supernatural franchise around vampire mythology alone, an adaptation could use the characters' centuries-long connections as its main mystery and emotional engine.
1 The Raven Scholar by Antonia Hodgson
Antonia Hodgson's The Raven Scholar feels tailor-made for viewers who enjoy fantasy mysteries wrapped inside political intrigue. Published in 2025, the novel takes place in the empire of Orrun after 24 years of rule under Emperor Bersun the Brusque. Seven contenders compete to replace him, while an eighth contender connected to the Dragon is eventually revealed.
Then one of the contestants is murdered, forcing Neema Kraa, the emperor's brilliant and eccentric High Scholar, to investigate while also becoming entangled in the succession struggle. The result has the ingredients for a phenomenal mystery-fantasy series: competing factions, distinct warrior traditions, imperial politics, a murder investigation, and a protagonist who could uncover a conspiracy capable of destroying an entire empire.
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