Books Receiving Television Adaptations In 2020 (Part Two)

In the first part of our article we looked at books such as Nine Perfect Strangers, Made For Love, The Luminaries, Brave New World and I Know This Much Is True that are all primed for television adaptations in 2020. In recent years the budgets for television shows have soared, which means that many books can now receive faithful adaptations without having to be cut down to fit in a movie format. Here are just a few more books that will be hitting the television and streaming services this year and beyond.

The Outsider

by Stephen King

Stephen King has been enjoying a resurgence in popularity after a string of movie adaptations recently, such as It Part One and Two, as well as the remake of Pet Semetary. However, it is not just movie producers that have taken an interest in his books as some of his work is also appearing on television. One of these is his 2018 horror novel, The Outsider. Shortly after its release, it was announced that HBO officially commissioned a series based on the novel. The novel is about a horrific crime that occurs, but all the evidence points towards a suspect who was nowhere near the crime scene at the time. It is up to Detective Anderson to investigate how something like this could have happened. The television show premiered on HBO in early January of 2020 and stars Ben Mendelsohn as Detective Ralph Anderson. Other cast members include Bill Camp, Jason Bateman, and Cynthia Erivo.

The Stand

by Stephen King

The Outsider is not the only Stephen King novel that received a television show this year either. King's 1978 post-apocalyptic horror, The Stand, is also set to appear on CBS All Access as a drama web television miniseries. This will mark the second time that the novel appears in television form after the 1994 miniseries, which starred Gary Sinese, Molly Ringwald, Rob Lowe, and Miguel Ferrer. The novel takes place in a timeline where the planet was devastated by a weaponized strain of influenza. This causes a total breakdown of society and sets the stage for an epic battle between good and evil. Although an official release date has not yet been revealed, The Stand will likely appear on television screens in 2020. The show will feature James Marsden as Stu Redman while Alexander Skarsgård stars as Randall Flagg.

You Should Have Known

by Jean Hanff Korelitz

You Should Have Known by Jean Hanff Korelitz is the story of Grace Reinhart Sachs, a pediatric oncologist at a major cancer hospital. She has a devoted husband and a young son and everything seems to be going perfect for her. Grace is also about to release a book called You Should Have Known, which is about women having to value their intuition when it comes to men. But then disaster strikes just before the release of the book when her own husband does something that could jeopardize everything. You Should Have Known is set to premiere on HBO in May 2020 as The Undoing and will star Nicole Kidman as well as Hugh Grant and Donald Sutherland. It is written and showrun by David E. Kelley, will Susanne Bier stepped in as director.

Normal People

by Sally Rooney

Normal People by Sally Rooney is a novel that deals with two teenagers, Connell and Marianne, and is set during the 2000s. It deals with the complex friendship and relationship between the two characters. Initially, it is Connell who is popular and handsome while Marianne is unpopular and intimidating although being quite well off. The two begin a relationship, which Connell keeps a secret out of shame, but things change in university where Marianne becomes pretty and popular while Connell has to struggle with fitting in for the first time ever. Hulu and BBC Three ordered a 12 episode series based on the novel that is set to premiere in 2020 and will star Daisy Edgar-Jones as Marianne and Paul Mescal as Connell.

The Council of Dads

by Bruce Feiler

The Council of Dads by Bruce Feiler is the true story about how the author was diagnosed with cancer. Worried about his twin daughters he approached six of his friends and asked them to provide advice and support to his daughters through their lives in the event that he passes away. Thankfully the author was declared cancer-free two years after he was diagnosed, but the response that he got from the friends who he approached served as inspiration for his book. The television adaptation of the book is set to premiere on NBC during March of 2020 and uses the story of the novel as inspiration. It is about a man named Scott Perry who is diagnosed with cancer, which causes him to worry about how his daughters will cope growing up without his help and advice. He and his wife then recruit six of their friends to serve as a council of dads in order for the girls to have father figures in their lives. The cast for the television series includes Sarah Wayne Callies, Clive Standen, Michael O'Neill, Steven Silver, and Emjay Anthony.

Little Fires Everywhere

by Celeste Ng

Another television miniseries based on a novel set to premiere in March of this year is Little Fires Everywhere by Celeste Ng. The novel, which was published in 2017, is set in Shaker Heights, Ohio, and deals with two families living there in the 1990s. One is the picture-perfect Richardson family who has their lives turned upside down with the arrival of a mother and daughter who moves into the neighborhood. Reese Witherspoon, who selected the novel as her book club pick after it was published, is not just set to executive produce, but also star in the series as Elena Richardson. Other cast members include Kerry Washington, Rosemarie DeWitt, Joshua Jackson, and Lexi Underwood.