Kirkus publishes roundups and reviews of dozens of book-to-screen adaptations every year. Last year’s best and brightest included Apple TV+’s Pachinko, a moving streaming series based on Min Jin Lee’s Kirkus-starred family saga, and AMC’s Interview With the Vampire, a compelling reimagining of Anne Rice’s Vampire Chronicles. Both have been picked up for second seasons, but there are plenty of other fine adaptations to watch in the meantime. Here are eight highlights from this year:
The 1619 Project (streaming on Hulu)
This powerful miniseries draws on The 1619 Project: A New Origin Story (2021), edited by Nikole Hannah-Jones, Caitlin Roper, Ilena Silverman, and Jake Silverstein, an expansion of the widely acclaimed New York Times Magazine series of essays, poems, and stories by various authors, first published in 2019. The book, which was a Kirkus Prize finalist, insightfully explores the consequences of slavery on American life as well as Black Americans’ key contributions to American culture. This documentary series concentrates on six of the book’s 18 essays, adding new interviews and other material. One standout, “Capitalism,” draws on an essay by Kirkus Prize finalist Matthew Desmond to delve into how the enslavement of Black people fostered a cruel (and ongoing) economic system. Those who are already familiar with The 1619 Project will find the show to be a fine companion piece, and newcomers will enjoy it as an excellent introduction.
The Night Agent (streaming on Netflix)
Shawn Ryan, best known for his gritty FX cop drama The Shield, created this loose streaming-series adaptation of Matthew Quirk’s 2019 spy thriller, which features several new characters and subplots. The story’s tense, irresistible setup remains intact, with surveillance specialist Peter Sutherland (played by Hillbilly Elegy’s Gabriel Basso) monitoring a secret, rarely used phone line for the White House; when he finally receives a call, it’s from a woman whose parents have been brutally murdered. The situation drags Sutherland into a complex conspiracy. The show features plenty of twists and turns, as well as lively action scenes that will satisfy even the most jaded spy-fiction fans. Some of the show’s delightful performances include The 100’s Eve Harlow as an unstable assassin and Watchmen’s Hong Chau as a wily White House chief of staff. A second season is in the works.
Obsession (streaming on Netflix)
Josephine Hart’s Kirkus-starred 1991 novel, Damage, was once adapted as a critically acclaimed theatrical film, directed by Louis Malle and starring Jeremy Irons and Juliette Binoche. This new, highly watchable limited-series version is a tense psychological thriller about a doctor whose secret affair with his son’s mysterious fiancee, Anna Barton, rips apart several lives. Berlin Station’s Richard Armitage is quite good as the tortured main character, and Game of Thrones’ Indira Varma and Ms. Marvel’s Rish Shah, as his wife and son (respectively), also do fine work. But Halo’s Charlie Murphy steals the show with her portrayal of Anna, whom she plays as a troubled soul whose rash actions have terrible consequences for everyone in her orbit.
Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret. (streaming on Starz)
Many readers will be shocked to learn that it took more than half a century for Judy Blume’s middle-grade classic to be adapted for the screen. It was well worth the wait, as the resulting film is a remarkably amusing and thoughtful work. Ant-Man’s Abby Ryder Fortson stars as sixth grader Margaret, whose family moves from New York City to suburban New Jersey in the 1970s; she deals with the resulting social stresses by having one-sided chats with God. She struggles to figure out her own personal religious affiliation—her mother was raised Christian; her father is Jewish—while also going through the many trials of puberty. Writer/director Kelly Fremon Craig (The Edge of Seventeen) preserves Blume’s famously frank and funny storytelling style, and the entire cast is superb—particularly Rachel McAdams, who offers an award-worthy turn as Margaret’s mom.
Dark Winds, Season 2 (streaming on AMC+)
This first-rate police-procedural series is based on the late Tony Hillerman’s bestselling mysteries featuring Navajo Tribal Police Lt. Joe Leaphorn and younger cop Jim Chee. This season is again set in the 1970s and is an adaptation of the Kirkus-starred People of Darkness (1980), which mainly focuses on Chee’s unofficial investigation into the theft of a wealthy man’s lockbox and a truck-bomb murder. The show gives Leaphorn and Officer Bernadette Manuelito plenty to do, as well, and changes other plot elements to its benefit; an added gunfight, set in a trailer, is especially impressive. Kiowa Gordon does a creditable job as Chee, but the show belongs to Westworld’s Zahn McClarnon, who’s riveting as the incorruptible Leaphorn, and Jessica Matten, whose ambitious Manuelito may have viewers wishing for a spinoff. Instead, viewers can look forward to a third season of Dark Winds, scheduled for early 2025.
The Other Black Girl (streaming on Hulu)
Zakiya Dalila Harris’ Kirkus-starred 2021 novel intriguingly combines elements of the outlandish 1993 movie thriller The Temp and the Oscar-winning horror film Get Out (acknowledged by Harris as an inspiration). This streaming series is a mostly faithful adaptation that tells the story of Nella Rogers, the only Black editorial assistant at publisher Wagner Books, whose life is changed after the hiring of a confident new Black assistant named Hazel-May McCall. The young woman encourages Nella to voice her concerns about a problematic Black character in a novel by one of the firm’s bestselling authors, but Nella finds her white bosses unreceptive, to say the least. As Nella starts questioning Hazel-May’s motives, she receives a series of anonymous notes urging her to “Leave Wagner Now.” The tale’s later revelations make the show a must-watch, as does Sinclair Daniel’s tense portrayal of Nella. Riverdale’s Ashleigh Murray also delivers a nuanced performance as the mysterious Hazel-May.
The Irrational (streaming on Peacock)
At first blush, this NBC crime-drama TV series seems like a fairly standard detective show. It stars Jesse L. Martin (of Law & Order fame) as Alec Mercer, a behavioral science professor whose insights into human nature help him solve cases for the FBI and other clients. What sets this show apart is that it’s based on a nonfiction bestseller: Dan Ariely’s Predictably Irrational: The Hidden Forces That Shape Our Decisions, which received a Kirkus star back in 2008. Like Ariely, Mercer frequently cites studies that show how people often make choices based on flawed, illogical thinking. As a result, Martin’s character frequently delivers short, diverting speeches about human behavior—sometimes in an actual classroom setting. It’s a low-key puzzle-solving show with modest ambitions—more Lie to Me than True Detective—but Martin’s charm goes a very long way, and his banter with Travina Springer, who plays Mercer’s free-spirited sister, is consistently fun to watch.
Black Cake (streaming on Hulu)
This streaming-series adaptation of Charmaine Wilkerson’s 2022 bestseller opens in the 1960s with teenager Covey Lyncook fleeing her Caribbean homeland on the day of her arranged wedding. It’s just the first of many hardships she faces before immigrating to the United States under an assumed name. In later years, she keeps many secrets about her traumatic early life from her adult children, Benny and Byron Bennett; only after her death do the estranged siblings learn a great many truths about their mother. The show presents viewers with a sweeping international saga, full of tragedy and danger, that appealingly calls to mind such old-school melodramas as Madame X (1966) while also offering sharp commentary on the immigrant experience and the complexity of familial connections. It’s further enhanced by Mia Isaac’s affecting performance as the young Covey; she’s a talent to watch.
David Rapp is the senior Indie editor.
PHOTO CREDITS. Top row, from left: Nikole Hannah-Jones in The 1619 Project (Patti Perret/Hulu); Jesse L. Martin in The Irrational (Sergei Bachlakov/NBC); Charlie Murphy and Richard Armitage in Obsession (Ana Blumenkron/Netflix). Center row, from left: Luciane Buchanan and Gabriel Basso in The Night Agent (Dan Power/Netflix); Jessica Matten and Zahn McClarnon in Dark Winds (Michael Moriatis/AMC). Bottom row, from left: Sinclair Daniel in The Other Black Girl (Wilford Harwood/Hulu); Mia Isaac in Black Cake (James Van Evers/Hulu); Rachel McAdams and Abby Ryder Fortson in Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret (Dana Hawley/Lionsgate).
