When it comes to entertainment, science fiction has long been a favorite genre to explore, particularly in movies and television. Stories of far-flung worlds, fascinating technology, travel beyond our earthly limits, and so much more make sci-fi tales perfect for the screen. But while there are plenty of sci-fi movies and television that are unique to that medium, the screen has long taken its cues from the page, adapting novels and stories in new ways for a visual audience.
Yet, for all of the books that have made their way to movies and television, there are still many books that haven’t gotten that sort of treatment — and they should. These seven books are great reads and they’d be just as thrilling, entertaining, and challenging on the screen as well.
7) We by Yevgeny Zamyatin
Sci-fi and dystopia go hand in hand when it comes to entertainment and there have been some great novels that fall into that very specific category get excellent live-action adaptations, but surprisingly, one of the best books in that genre hasn’t yet had the treatment: We. Published in 1921 by Russian author Yevgeny Zamyatin, We is a highly influential dystopian sci-fi novel — George Orwell’s Nineteen Eight-Four and Animal Farm were both inspired by the book and Orwell was vocal in his belief that another dystopian sci-fi staple, Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World, was also influenced by We.
Set in a far future, We tells the story of D-503, a spacecraft engineer living in the One State, an authoritarian dystopia built nearly entirely of glass and defined by mass surveillance and total subservience to a central power known as the Benefactor. Logic reigns supreme and everything is driven by it, even going so far as to use mathematical logic and reason to justify every aspect of life as outlined by the One State. However, when D-503 meets I-330, who claims to be part of a movement to overthrow the Benefactor, D-503 begins to question everything. It’s a fascinating story that has been a massive influence over dystopian fiction since its publication and while a little less bleak than Orwell’s work, it has some truly challenging themes and it’s a surprise it hasn’t been adapted.
6) Parable of the Sower by Octavia E. Butler
Parable of the Sower is one of those books that we are arguably going to eventually get in live-action, but it just hasn’t happened yet — A24 won the rights to the book back in 2021 but very little has been said about the project since its announcement, which is a shame because it’s a great book that, like many sci-fi novels, leads into dystopian territory.
Set in the then-future 2025 (the book was published in 2025) where the Earth has been deeply impacted by climate change and social inequality, Parable of the Sower tells the story of a young woman, Lauren, who has the unique power of being able to feel the pain of others. After being displaced from her home, she journeys north with her own belief system, Earthseed, in which she believes humankind’s destiny is to leave Earth to spread humanity to other planets. With its themes of wealth inequality, social collapse, and ecological disaster, Parable of the Sower is a powerful story that would do well with an adaptation — and as the first of two books (the second is Parable of the Talents) it could be the start of a franchise.
5) The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K. Le Guin
One of — and arguably the most famous — the stories that make up Ursula K. Le Guin’s Hainish Cycle, 1969’s The Left Hand of Darkness would be an incredible book to adapt to movie or television because it generally has everything. Elements of the story function as political thriller, there’s romance, plenty of adventure, and even issues of gender. The story follows Genly Ai, a human native of Terra sent to the planet Gethen as part of a political envoy with the mission to persuade Gethen to join the Ekumen, a confederation of planets. However, Genly finds himself challenged in his mission when he arrives on Gethen to discover that because the Gethen are ambisexual, his understanding of the culture is very limited.
The Left Hand of Darkness is an expansive tale that, while a little complicated, has all the makings of a great television series or even series of films.
4) A Memory Called Empire by Arkady Martine
One of the newer books on this list, A Memory Called Empire is the first book in a series by Martine. The book follows Mahit Dzmare, an ambassador from the small, independent station Lsel Station, who has to go to the Teixcalaanli Empire to investigate the murder of her predecessor. To do this, Mahit will have to not only protect her station from imperial expansion but do so while navigating the politics of the imperial court — no small task given how vast the Teixcalaanli Empire is. Add in the additional challenge of her station having a dangerous secret, you’ve got all the makings of a sci-fi thriller.
With A Memory Called Empire being the first in a series and Martine, a historian, drawing from the Byzantine Empire and other empires in human history for elements of the story, this book and indeed series overall is just perfect to start a franchise.
3) Binti by Nnedi Okorafor
Another book that we may eventually see an adaptation of as it was announced in 2020 that Hulu was reportedly developing the book for television is Binti. Technically a novella by Nnedi Okorafor, Binti is the first in a series of novellas which definitely lends to the possibility of more than just a single movie or season of television. Binti follows a the titular Binti, a young Him woman who leaves earth in order to attend a prestigious university in space. However, along the way she encounters conflict when her ship is hijacked, setting her on a very different path than she may have expected.
With the elements of space travel and adventure, as well as themes of identity, home, and self, Binti is a gorgeous and fascinating story of not only self-discovery, but of understanding. The book, as well as the two sequels, covers a lot of territory in terms of what the characters experience making it the sort of complex story that’s perfect for the screen.
2) Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson
The cyberpunk subgenre of sci-fi is a great one and Snow Crash is a great novel within it. Set in a world following a global economic collapse where the American federal government has given over most of its power to private organizations, the book follows hacker and pizza delivery driver Hiro Protagonist as he navigates the virtual world, the Metaverse. However, Hiro discovers a conspiracy involving the drug Snow Crash that impacts both real-world people and their digital avatars and has terribly consequences and implications.
Snow Crash’s virtual reality element would make it a stunning story to adapt, visually, but more than that, the story’s themes of corporate control, the line between physical and digital reality, and issues of identity are just ripe to come to life on screen.
1) Sea of Tranquility by Emily St. John Mandel
While one could argue that Emily St. John Mandel’s Sea of Tranquility is more speculative fiction than sci-fi, with its themes and questions about time, memory, time travel, and even questions about simulation hypothesis, Sea of Tranquility definitely also fits into science fiction — and would be an incredible story to adapt for television. It was announced in 2022 that HBO Max would be adapting the novel along with the author’s other novel, The Glass Hotel, though like a few other projects on this list, it hasn’t manifested just yet.
Sea of Tranquility follows a handful of characters, including an exiled son of a nobleman, a writer living on a moon colony who avoids the fate of dying in a pandemic thanks to a warning from a time traveler, and a woman haunted by the disappearance of a former friend. Each of the stories are interconnected but there is an undercurrent of mystery and even a thriller aspect to things with the story of the time traveler, who breaks protocol for the agency he works for when he warns the writer of her fate. It’s fascinating and expansive — perfect for television.
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