5 Best-Selling Novels That Deserve a Film or Television Adaptation
After holding strong to the top spot at the box office for the second week in a row, Phil Lord and Christopher Miller’s adaptation of Andy Weir’s Project Hail Mary continues to answer the prayers of studio execs, theater owners, and audiences alike. Having seen the film this past weekend, it’s clear that Lord and Miller understood the assignment of bringing Weir’s best-selling novel to the silver screen with authenticity and care. Seeing this level of dedication to the source material restored my faith in filmmakers’ ability to honor what came before while also giving audiences something new to experience. Then, this feeling of elation got me thinking: What other best-selling novels are worthy of a real-deal adaptation? To answer this question, I reviewed my stack of recently read novels and chose five titles I think would make for killer films or television series. While some of the following titles are in various stages of development or limbo, others are brand-new pitches. One thing remains constant: they’re all worthy of reaching larger audiences through the power of film.
My Husband’s Wife by Alice Feeney
Earlier this year, All Her Fault producer Carnival Films snapped up the rights to Alice Feeney‘s latest best-seller, My Husband’s Wife. A television adaptation of Feeney’s twisty mystery thriller is in development, with Three Pines’ Emilia di Girolamo overseeing the project. I’ve been reading like a fiend since the Christmas break, and My Husband’s Wife is by far and away one of the best books I’ve read in years.
In My Husband’s Wife, Eden Fox, an artist on the brink of her big break, sets off for a run before her first exhibition. When she returns to the home she recently moved into, Spyglass, an enchanting old house in Hope Falls, nothing is as it should be. Her key doesn’t fit. A woman, eerily similar to her, answers the door. And her husband insists that the stranger is his wife. One house. One husband. Two women. Someone is lying. The psychological thriller quickly spirals out of control when a reclusive Londoner, Birdy, arrives to investigate the strange case of Eden Fox.
Feeney’s writing is tight and razor-sharp. Once I broke the seal on this book, I could not put it down. I read the whole novel in under 48 hours, pausing only for work and sleep. My Husband’s Wife is my definition of a page-turner, with Feeney holding onto secrets that will rattle your brain until the very last chapter. I’ve already lent this book out to two friends, and both have come back to me raving about its exquisite pace and startling twists. Casting is underway for the adaptation, with Carnival ready to shop the project to buyers. I expect Netflix to snatch up the right to host My Husband’s Wife, much like they did with Feeney’s other adaptation, His & Hers, starring Tessa Thompson and Jon Bernthal.
The Only One Left by Riley Sager
It’s a crime that none of Riley Sager’s novels have been adapted for film or television yet. Several of his books are in varying stages of development, but it’s been a slow shamble to the finish line. One of Sager’s novels that’s begging for an adaptation is his 2023 whodunit, The Only One Left, a shocking period thriller focusing on the mysterious case of Lenora Hope, a reclusive woman who, in 1929, is rumored to have murdered her family in their mansion-like home. While the cops were never able to prove Lenora committed the crime, everyone thinks she’s guilty.
Fast-forward to 1983, when a home-health aide named Kit McDeere has no choice but to care for Lenora until her dying day, coming face-to-face with a potential killer inside a crooked home that’s steadily falling into the ocean below. As Kit adjusts to her new surroundings, she begins hearing strange noises, meeting peculiar staff who were present around the time of the murders, and Lenora starts feeling chatty through an old typewriter in the far corner of her room. Lenora, now the victim of a crippling stroke, wants to share her story with Kit—a confession, if you will. But what Kit learns could get her killed, as jaw-dropping revelations about the past resurface.
The Only One Left is a compelling slow burn that takes off like a rocket ship 2/3 of the way through. Once you hit that part of the book, it’s impossible to put down. Sager’s novel is dripping with atmosphere, shifty characters, and mind-blowing reveals. Hope Manor might as well be another character in the story, as the mansion is an intimidating presence throughout the book, constantly changing the landscape (literally) of a murder mystery tinged with horror and suspense. According to Sager, a miniseries for The Last One Left is in development, but the last we heard about it was back in June 2025. It’s time to dust the rights to this book off and get the job done.
Mister Magic by Kiersten White
Are you familiar with the Mandela Effect? In short, it’s a phenomenon in which a large group of people collectively shares a false memory of a past event, detail, or pop-culture icon. For example, do you remember the Berenstain Bears as the Berenstein Bears? I certainly do. What gives? Now, apply the concept of the Mandela Effect to a Barney and Friends-like children’s program called Mister Magic, a mysterious program that everyone knows they watched religiously, but cannot remember. There are no traces of it online. It’s like the show never existed, yet everyone remembers tuning in and falling in love with the cast.
Thirty years after a tragic accident shut down production of the classic children’s program Mister Magic, the five surviving cast members have done their best to move on. But just as generations of cultishly devoted fans still cling to the lessons they learned from the show, the cast, known as the Circle of Friends, have spent their lives searching for the happiness they felt while they were on it. The friendship. The feeling of belonging. And the protection of Mister Magic.
But with no surviving video of the show, no evidence of who directed or produced it, and no records of who—or what—the beloved host actually was, memories are all the former Circle of Friends has.
Then a twist of fate brings the castmates back together at the remote desert filming compound that feels like it’s been waiting for them all this time. Even though they haven’t seen each other for years, they understand one another better than anyone has.
Mister Magic is what happens when you take the twisted realm of conspiracy theories and mix it with James Tynion IV’s The Department of Truth, for a bizarre trip down memory lane. What was Mister Magic? Why can’t anyone remember? Why is every post about the show stripped from the online record? What are the people who made the show hiding? White’s Mister Magic is a haunting and emotional thriller about religious trauma, selective amnesia, and a sinister, Babadook-like villain controlling a liminal space where imagination gives way to chaos. If I had my wish, I would put Jordan Peele on this project. I could see him taking a fresh approach to the cast, twisting the narrative while continuing to explore buried memories, and bringing the horrific effects of childhood trauma to life on the silver screen.
The Final Girl Support Group by Grady Hendrix
Alright, who let the ball drop on this one? According to a 2021 Deadline article, a TV series based on Grady Hendrix’s The Final Girl Support Group was in development with Charlize Theron’s Delilah Films, It duo Barbara and Andy Muschietti’s Double Dream, and Aperture Entertainment. I’ll ask again: What happened? Because this book should have gotten a limited series adaptation years ago!
While paying tribute to films like The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, A Nightmare on Elm Street, and Scream, The Final Girl Support Group focuses on Lynnette Tarkington, a real-life final girl who survived a massacre. For more than a decade, she’s been meeting with five other final girls and their therapist in a support group for survivors of the unthinkable, working to put their lives back together. Then one woman misses a meeting, and their worst fears come true—someone knows about the group and is determined to rip their lives apart again, piece by piece. But the thing about final girls is that no matter how bad the odds, how dark the night, how sharp the knife, they will never, ever give up.
I just finished reading Grady’s 2021 novel, and let me tell you, it’s a ride! Much like the Indian Lake Trilogy from Stephen Graham Jones, The Final Girl Support Group takes a bold, often funny look at the final girl phenomenon, with all the action, sharpened survival instincts, and bloody revenge that comes with the territory. Grady’s novel is brutal in its approach to a group of women who’ve grown tired of each other, as well as looking over their shoulders for when a crazed killer or deranged fan might strike. TFGSC dissects final girl tropes with a razor-sharp blade, offering audiences a how-to guide for navigating life after surviving a massacre. I don’t know what it will take, but someone needs to dust the rights to this project off and get the ball rolling again. I need it!
King Sorrow by Joe Hill
The last time I wrote a list like this, I proposed adapting Joe Hill’s 2007 horror novel Heart-Shaped Box. Today, I propose a limited series adaptation of what I feel is his strongest novel to date, King Sorrow. Published last year, King Sorrow focuses on a group of friends who make a deal with a silver-tongued dragon to solve a collective problem with increasingly deadly stakes. The problem is, dragons lie. If you don’t pay attention to their words, the contract could bind you to a deal far more sinister than you’re capable of enduring.
Arthur Oakes is a reader, a dreamer, and a student at Rackham College, Maine, renowned for its frosty winters, exceptional library, and beautiful buildings. But his idyll—and burgeoning romance with Gwen Underfoot—is shattered when a local drug dealer and her partner corner him into one of the worst crimes he can imagine: stealing rare books from the college library.
Trapped and desperate, Arthur turns to his closest friends for comfort and help. Together, they dream up a wild, fantastical scheme to free Arthur from the cruel trap in which he finds himself. Wealthy, irrepressible Colin Wren suggests using the unnerving Crane journal (bound in the skin of its author) to summon a dragon to do their bidding. The others—brave, beautiful Alison Shiner; the battling twins Donna and Donovan McBride; and brainy, bold Gwen—don’t hesitate to join Colin in an effort to smash reality and bring a creature of the impossible into our world.
But there’s nothing simple about dealing with dragons, and their pact to save Arthur becomes a terrifying bargain in which the six must choose a new sacrifice for King Sorrow every year—or become his next meal.
Joe Hill’s King Sorrow is positively insane, and one of the best books I’ve read in years. It moves at a breakneck pace, with the stakes always increasing as the body count rises. It’s a beast of a book that’s impossible to put down, and a 12-episode limited series would be the perfect way to adapt this wild story. I’ve never been more certain that an adaptation of this book would capture audiences everywhere, becoming a watercooler show with each astonishing episode. Hell, I’d make a deal with the dragon to see this done. Let’s go, King Sorrow!
What best-selling novels would you like to see get a film or television adaptation? Let us know in the comments section below!
The post 5 Best-Selling Novels That Deserve a Film or Television Adaptation appeared first on JoBlo.