HBO Already Has the Perfect 'Station Eleven' Replacement Dystopian Sci-Fi To Adapt

Published Oct 7, 2026, 11:15 PM EDT

Erin Konrad's love for everything entertainment dates back to elementary school when she became obsessed with classic Hollywood musicals. When she's not catching up on all her favorite television shows, she's advising her friends and family on what they should binge watch next.

She has her Bachelor's degree in Journalism and a Masters of Fine Arts in Creative Writing. Creating content for Collider gives her the opportunity to combine her writing skills with her passion for television and movies. She spends her free time trying to beat her personal record of reading 137 books in a year and cuddling with her dog, Gracie.

There's no doubt Station Eleven is one of the best sci-fi limited series ever made. Based on Emily St. John Mandel's bestselling 2014 novel, the 10-episode show is a mostly faithful adaptation; four years later, we're still thinking about its harrowing post-pandemic premise andcompelling characters. Mandel's writing is rich with authentic, moving themes and creates stories that make us think about disturbing futures. After Station Eleven landed seven Emmy nominations and countless fans, it's easy to argue that Mandel's newest dystopian sci-fi novel is ripe for adaptation.

What Is 'Exit Party' About?

Exit Party, which hopefully won't be as prescient as Station Eleven turned out to be, follows the story of a character who first popped up in Mandel's 2010 novel, The Singer's Gun. When we met Ari Waker in that book, she seemed to have disappeared after ordering the murder of her cousin. When Exit Party picks up, Ari has just been released from prison after nearly two decades. She was convicted for her paid assassination attempt, but the Los Angeles she returns to in 2031 is incredibly different than when she left.

The U.S. has been torn apart by a civil war, and there is no longer any semblance of normal. Ari ends up at a party celebrating the lifting of a citywide curfew, but strange events start occurring when she notices duplicate people milling around. These doppelgängers kick off a riveting sci-fi-fueled journey as we learn more about both Ari's past and her future.

An 'Exit Party' Adaptation Would Be a Surefire Sci-Fi Masterpiece

Exit Party would be an exciting enough project for an adaptation with this main premise, but Mandel pulls off an incredible feat by writing about a future that somehow feels all too possible. In Side A, we traverse the U.S., and later Europe, where Ari struggles to survive against a backdrop of death and loss. The entire story gets turned on its head with the second half of the book, titled Side B, introducing a completely different version of Ari who exists in an alternate universe. This version of Ari is the opposite of Side A — she's a strict, rule-following member of law enforcement — but the two do share similar haunting personalities. In Side B, the U.S. has become a surveillance state, where friends and neighbors are willing to turn on each other to avoid harsh prison sentences. As we follow along with the parallel versions of the characters we've already come to love in the first half of the book, Exit Party becomes even more twisty and heart-wrenching.

Each of these worlds depicted onscreen would be visually impressive, especially with HBO's production budgets. A director who defined the look of Station Eleven, like Hiro Murai, would be an ideal choice to bring both of these eerie, terrifying settings to life. Expanding Exit Party's storytelling to multiple episodes (or even several seasons) would also help further explore Mandel's fascinating characters. Mandel's writing is already incredibly detailed, but learning more about what transpired in each of the story's dystopian worlds could occur with flashback episodes that would help flesh out the story even more. Whether a Paris that has a dome over it to control the weather and protect its citizens, or a high-tech world where your face is scanned to pay for your groceries, Mandel's creative and unique backdrops would only benefit from being brought to the screen.

Back in March, months before Exit Party was even published, a bidding war broke out among production companies for the rights to a television adaptation. Laika, a film animation studio known for movies like Coraline and ParaNorman, won, along with Emma Stone's production company, Fruit Tree. Nothing has been announced about a streaming home for the series, but HBO should definitely throw its hat in the ring. Seeing this sci-fi world brought to life with its puzzling and intricate storylines and gripping characters could serve as the perfect replacement for anyone who's been experiencing a Station Eleven-sized hole in their hearts.

Station Eleven