We put together a list of some of the most exciting page-to-screen adaptations coming up in 2026: from a new take on C. S. Lewis's beloved Narnia series, as reimagined by Greta Gerwig, to Emerald Fennell's controversial reboot of Wuthering Heights.
Novels, nonfiction narratives and even short stories often become the basis for screenplays—and it can be fun (and sometimes frustrating) to see our favourite books being made into movies. In 2026, there are a number of major book adaptations just released, or still to look forward to.
Out Already
2026 began with a bang with Emerald Fennell’s high-profile, if “decidedly loose” adaptation of Emily Brontë’s Wuthering Heights—a number-one box office smash on its opening weekend. Margot Robbie and Jacob Elordi star as tortured lovers Cathy and Heathcliff in this sexed-up interpretation from the director of Saltburn.
A critically acclaimed hit was Hamnet, directed by Chloé Zhao and starring Jessie Buckley and Paul Mescal as Agnes and William Shakespeare, grieving the death of their young son. Her performance won Buckley the Oscar for Best Actress.
Claire Foy plays the lead role in a film adaptation of falconer Helen Macdonald’s hit memoir H is for Hawk, which charts the author’s grief following her father’s death as she simultaneously trains a goshawk.
The long-awaited Hollywood adaptation of Andy Weir’s Project Hail Mary, starring Ryan Gosling in the lead role, will open on March 20 in the United States. It looks likely to find a huge audience, following the success of The Martian, an adaptation of an earlier book by the same author, which starred Matt Damon. The trailer has already amassed more than 400 million views.
Christopher Nolan, director of Inception and Interstellar will release a much anticipated film version of the Ancient Greek epic poem The Odyssey, starring Matt Damon as Odysseus. Nolan has specifically cited the Classicist Emily Wilson’s recent translation as an inspiration for his take on the character.
Out in October
October 1st will see the release of Netflix’s seven-episode East of Eden limited series, written by Zoe Kazan, whose grandfather Elia Kazan directed the acclaimed 1955 film starring James Dean.
Anne Hathaway, Dakota Johnson, and Josh Hartnett star in this new adaptation of Colleen Hoover’s popular psychological thriller Verity, in which a ghostwriter is brought in to finish a bestselling series for a well-known author in mysterious circumstances.
Out in November
Lovers of high fantasy will be excited to hear that the first installment of Greta Gerwig’s two-part adaptation of C.S. Lewis’s The Magician’s Nephew (the sixth in the Chronicles of Narnia series) will be released at the end of the year, opening in IMAX cinemas before wider release on the Netflix streaming service.
September 3, 2026
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