Every month, all the major streaming services add a host of newly acquired (or just plain new) shows, movies, and documentaries into their ever-rotating libraries. So what’s a dedicated reader to watch? Well, whatever you want, of course, but the name of this website is Literary Hub, so we sort of have an angle. To that end, here’s a selection of the best (and most enjoyably bad) literary film and TV coming to streaming services this month. Have fun.
NEW:
Play Dirty
Prime Video, October 1
Literary bona fides: based on the Parker series by Donald E. Westlake (as Richard Stark)
Mark Wahlberg is Parker, a ruthless career criminal, and LaKeith Stanfield is Grofield, a ruthless career criminal who also likes the theater, in this adaptation of Stark’s classic crime series. The premise might be giving The 500 Hats of Bartholomew Cubbins (Wahlberg and Stanfield hunting sunken treasure whilst opposed by “a South American dictator, the New York mob, and the world’s richest man,” ok) but I have to say I do love an assembling a team montage (the supporting cast includes Rosa Salazar, Keegan-Michael Key and Tony Shalhoub) and the trailer looks like more fun than it really has to be, so we shall see.
Steve
October 3, Netflix
Literary bona fides: based on Max Porter’s Shy (2023)
From our fall film & TV preview: Max Porter has adapted the screenplay for Steve from his own novella Shy, about the head teacher of a reform school (Cillian Murphy) who finds the walls closing in on all fronts, professional and personal. Tim Mielants—who also led last year’s adaptation of Small Things Like These—directs. “I just adore Max’s writing and the thing his writing does for me, which Claire Keegan’s writing does as well—and it’s something I’ve always chased down in writing—is something that has an actual visceral effect on you, an emotional effect,” Murphy told Deadline. “Max gave me [Shy] in a proof edition before he finished it, and again it just broke my heart. They’re the sorts of things I love as a reader and as a performer, so I really wanted to do something with him.” Should be good.
The Lost Bus
Apple TV+, October 3
Literary bona fides: based on Paradise: One Town’s Struggle to Survive an American Wildfire by Lizzie Johnson (2021)
From our fall film & TV preview: Washington Post staff writer Johnson’s work of reportage on California’s 2018 Camp Fire has been turned into a high-stakes thriller about a school bus driver (Matthew McConaughey) trying to navigate a bus full of kids and their teacher (America Ferrera) through a deadly wildfire. Ok!
Maigret
PBS, October 5
Literary bona fides: based on Georges Simenon’s Jules Maigret novels
From our fall film & TV preview: Benjamin Wainwright stars as Parisian Chief Inspector Jules Maigret in the first contemporary television adaptation of Simenon’s classic series, the second best-selling detective series of all time (after Sherlock Holmes). This adaption “reframes Maigret as an unconventional young detective with something to prove the Police Judiciaire, relentless in his investigations, chasing and a matchless knowledge of Paris and its inhabitants,” according to PBS. “Faithfully and lovingly married to Madame Maigret [(Stefanie Martini)], Maigret heads the elite police unit known as La Crim, responsible for investigating all serious crime in and around Paris.”
Boots
Netflix, October 9
Literary bona fides: inspired by Greg Cope White’s The Pink Marine (2015)
From our fall film & TV preview: Inspired by former Marine Greg Cope White’s memoir, Boots is a coming-of-age story that follows a new recruit—the closeted Cameron (Miles Heizer)—along with his straight best friend Ray McAffey (Liam Oh) in the U.S. Marine Corps in 1990, when it was “illegal” to be gay while serving in the military. This was legendary producer Norman Lear’s last project before he died in 2023. It’s also supposed to be funny.
The Woman in Cabin 10
Netflix, October 10
Literary bona fides: based on The Woman in Cabin 10 by Ruth Ware (2016)
From our fall film & TV preview: Keira Knightley stars in this adaptation of Ware’s best-selling thriller, in which a travel journalist on a cruise definitely sees a woman being thrown overboard, except that no such woman ever existed and no one seems to know what she’s talking about. Guy Pearce, Art Malik, Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Kaya Scodelario, Daniel Ings and Hannah Waddingham also star (whew).
The Twits
Netflix, October 17
Literary bona fides: based on Roald Dahl’s The Twits (1980)
From our fall film & TV preview: Margo Martindale and Johnny Vegas are the voices behind Mrs. and Mr. Twit in this fun-looking adaptation of Dahl’s beloved story, which he famously said he wrote in an attempt to “do something against beards.” Natalie Portman, Emilia Clarke, Maitreyi Ramakrishnan, Ryan Lopez, Jason Mantzoukas, Timothy Simons, Alan Tudyk, and Nicole Byer round out the cast.
Lazarus
Prime Video, October 22
Literary bona fides: a Harlan Coben production
Legendary thriller novelist Harlan Coben created this series with Danny Brocklehurst from Coben’s original idea, which makes it just barely literary enough for this list. Also, any excuse to watch Bill Nighy, who stars as Doctor Lazarus, whose death plunges his forensic psychologist son (Sam Clafin) into a labyrinth of family mysteries. Also, maybe ghosts? I’m listening.
Talamasca: The Secret Order
AMC+, October 26
Literary bona fides: set in Anne Rice’s Immortal Universe
From our fall film & TV preview: Nicholas Denton stars in this new Rice-verse project as Guy Anatole (a new character, not one from the books), who is drafted into the Talamasca, a secret baddie-hunting society, in this six-episode season. Should be fun, and full of crossovers, and honestly I’m here for anything that Elizabeth McGovern deigns to deliver.
It: Welcome to Derry
HBO, October 26
Literary bona fides: based on Stephen King’s It (1986)
From our fall film & TV preview: What could the It franchise use? If you said “a prequel,” you probably have a financial stake in it. Anyway, Welcome to Derry is set in 1962, when a new family arrives in town to find…well, you know. Jovan Adepo, Chris Chalk, Taylour Paige, James Remar, and Stephen Rider star, and Bill Skarsgård is back as Pennywise.
Hedda
Prime Video, October 29
Literary bona fides: based on Hedda Gabler by Henrik Ibsen (1891)
From our fall film & TV preview: Nia DaCosta adapted and directs this modern and very sexy-looking adaptation of Ibsen’s masterpiece of regret and self-actualization. Tessa Thompson produces and stars, which usually brings me to the movies, along with Imogen Poots, Tom Bateman, Nicholas Pinnock, and Nina Hoss. My most anticipated of the season.
Ballad of a Small Player
Netflix, October 29
Literary bona fides: based on The Ballad of a Small Player by Lawrence Osborne (2014)
From our fall film & TV preview: Edward Berger directs this stylized, amped up gambling drama, set in Macau, which, if the trailer is any indication, features many scenes of Colin Farrell screaming at inanimate objects (a genre to which I am not insensitive). Will there be too many? We’ll have to watch to find out.
Down Cemetery Road
Apple TV+, October 29
Literary bona fides: based on Down Cemetery Road by Mick Herron (2003)
From our fall film & TV preview: Apple is reaching back into the Mick Herron bag after the success of Slow Horses (see above); Down Cemetery Road, Herron’s debut novel and the first in his Zoë Boehm series, was adapted by Morwenna Banks and stars Ruth Wilson as Sarah Tucker, resident of a leafy suburb, who after a mysterious explosion that leaves two dead and a little girl missing, calls in Oxford PI Zoë Boehm (Emma Thompson) to help her crack the case.
The Witcher (Season 4)
Netflix, October 30
Literary bona fides: based on
True heads know that Henry Cavill is the only Geralt of Rivia, but maybe Liam Hemsworth will be fine. At least now we’ll find out for sure how much work that wig is doing.
SPOOKY SEASON THROWBACK:
Dracula (1931)
Prime Video, October 1
Literary bona fides: based on Dracula (the play) by Hamilton Deane and John L. Balderston, which was adapted from Dracula (the 1897 novel) by Bram Stoker
Start the season off right with Bela Lugosi: the second-best Dracula of all time (well, depending on who you ask).
Frankenstein (1931)
Prime Video, October 1
Literary bona fides: based on Frankenstein (the 1927 play) by Peggy Webling, which was based on Frankenstein (the 1818 novel) by Mary Shelley
And while you’re at it, make it a double feature with Boris Karloff’s iconic turn as Frankenstein’s monster…
Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1931)
HBO Max, October 1
Literary bona fides: based on The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson (1886)
…or really double down with Fredric March as both Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. (Talk about a double header!) Listen, you can’t go wrong with the classics (or dad jokes).
The Exorcist (1973)
HBO Max, October 1
Literary bona fides: based on William Peter Blatty’s The Exorcist (1971)
A cultural touchstone that is honestly still scary as hell. You could do worse on a full moon.
The Shining (1980)
HBO Max, October 1
Literary bona fides: based on Stephen King’s The Shining (1977)
Another thriller you can’t escape, and shouldn’t.
Candyman (1992)
Prime Video, October 1
Literary bona fides: based on “The Forbidden” by Clive Barker
Bernard Rose transposed Barker’s horror story about class in Liverpool into a horror story about race and class in Chicago, and it became a legend of its own, spawning three sequels (including Nia DaCosta’s 2021 Candyman, the first film made by a Black female director to open at #1).
Practical Magic (1998)
HBO Max, October 1
Literary bona fides: based on Practical Magic by Alice Hoffman (1995)
Channel your inner whimsigoth and make some midnight margaritas for this perennial Lit Hub favorite. What can I say? We have good taste.
American Psycho (2000)
Peacock/Paramount+, October 1
Literary bona fides: based on American Psycho by Bret Easton Ellis (1991)
He’s not meant to be aspirational, folks. He’s supposed to be a terrifying mirror to our discontent. Rewatch (and/or reread) for your proof.
Gone Girl (2014)
HBO Max, October 1
Literary bona fides: based on Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn (2012)
Fincher’s take on Flynn’s phenomenon is one of our best literary adaptations of the decade, and while there are no literal monsters in it, there’s nothing spookier than a cool girl.
