From ‘The Thursday Murder Club’ to ‘The Hunting Wives,’ Netflix Is the King of Book Adaptations [Exclusive]

Whether you casually watch Netflix or keep a close eye on the platform’s global streaming charts, you might have noticed a trend. More and more, the platform known for massive original shows like Stranger Things and Wednesday has established itself as a home for high-profile book adaptations. The most recent buzzy title to capture the attention of viewers was The Thursday Murder Club , the star-studded film from Chris Columbus based on the acclaimed mystery novel by Richard Osman , but this pattern has been ongoing far before Celia Imrie first stumbled upon Helen Mirren , Pierce Brosnan , and Ben Kingsley ‘s investigative get-together. In fact, Collider can confirm that, during every single week of 2025, there has been at least one book adaptation on the streamer’s Global Top 10 lists .

This success has not been exclusive to film. For all the success Columbus’ feature found, debuting at #2 globally, shows like The Hunting Wives , Ransom Canyon , and Judy Blume ‘s Forever have also thrived, each spending four or more weeks in the Top 10. Earlier this year, the Sofia Carson and Corey Mylchreest -led romantic comedy-drama flick, My Oxford Year , based on the novel by Julia Whelan , also spent four weeks among the most-watched films on the platform. A wide range of adaptations is finding success, and it’s also feeding back into the works that inspired viewers’ new favorite binges.

Successful Netflix Adaptations Have Inspired Viewers to Support the Original Novels

“My Oxford Year,released in 2018, and we’re thrilled with all the buzz surrounding the Netflix film, bringing new life and a new audience to this charming story,” Jennifer Hart, Deputy Publisher/Senior Vice President at William Morrow, said. “Since the movie was released on Friday (8/1), we immediately saw an increase in sales.” Harlequin Trade Publishing Associate Publisher/Vice President of Marketing Amy Jones reported similar success with Ransom Canyon, which figures to only grow with its renewal for a second season. “First published in 2015, Jodi Thomas’sRansom Canyon has found a vibrant new audience thanks to its Netflix adaptation. Since the series’ release in April 2025, we’ve seen a remarkable resurgence in interest, with sales increasing dramatically across all formats featuring the tie-in artwork. This evocative story continues to captivate readers and viewers alike, proving its mainstream appeal and excitement leading into Season 2.”Working with Netflix has been a mutually beneficial partnership for these works, bringing the respective books back into the public eye in a big way. Berkley Senior Vice President and PublisherChristine Ball painted a more detailed picture of the success, saying that, in just one week after The Hunting Wives premiered, May Cobb‘s 2021 novel “has gone back to press twice on the trade paperback and saw a +5,000% increase across all formats in the same one-week period year over year.” It immediately shot to #4 on Amazon and, two weeks after dropping on July 21, enjoyed a605% increase in global listening on Spotify.In the case of The Thursday Murder Club, Viking & Penguin President Brian Tart spoke to the film’s ability to lift an entire series of novels through its appearance on Netflix. “In the month of August, the Thursday Murder Club series was up over 80% year-over-year in the same four-week period, with book #1 up 110%—which landed it back onto theNew York Timesbestseller list.” The boost in popularity these adaptations bring is often felt globally, too. One of the biggest such international beneficiaries was La Eternauta, Bruno Stagnaro‘s series spin of the 1957 comic book byHéctor G. OesterheldandFrancisco Solano López, whichGrupo Planeta Director of Communications/Marketing Miriam Vidriales said sparked a level of demand in its native Argentina that was hard to meet. Moreover, though, she spoke about how these adaptations resonate with viewers by emphasizing the core themes of their respective stories and presenting them in an easy-to-connect way.

“In Argentina the series effect on the book demand resulted in soaring sales: numbers came up in 900%; it was the most sold book during the Book Fair, and people just got into a fan effect that is still going. We have already printed 21 editions (all formats) and people do not seem to have enough of it. I believe the series highlighted the essence of the story: friendship and love are the foundations of resilience, from either in daily life or during alien invasions. Argentinians know that awfully well and I think that is part of the this story that has allowed it to connect with audiences all ages”

Accessibility and Freedom Make Netflix a Preferred Partner

Netflix is far from the only streaming service tapping heavily into the book-to-screen pipeline, but the sheer volume of projects going their way means they’re doing something right in the eyes of publishers, authors, and other creatives. For Rebecca Cutter, the creator and showrunner of The Hunting Wives, it’s all about accessibility. In an interview with Collider’s Maggie Lovitt, she highlighted how the universality of Netflix, built by being the first prominent streamer on the scene, makes it a preferred choice to get stories in front of as many eyes as possible. Their willingness to platform such diverse stories, like the more “risqué” Texas-set drama, she believes, also makes them an obvious choice.

“Well, I think you just can’t beat Netflix for accessibility to an audience. I just think that’s the one that everybody has, you know, for the most part. So they served up the biggest possible audience, and the show felt slightly different than other things that they have on that platform. It was a little more risqué and scandalous and maybe a little bit more trashy. So I just think it stood out a little bit, and that combination of a lot of people watching it, and it kind of working and feeling sort of fresh, and also the timing the summer of it all, it’s such a summer beach read type of a show that I just think it clicked.

Cutter explained that she was brought aboard The Hunting Wives while at work on her Starz crime drama Hightown. At the recommendation of Lionsgate executive Scott Herbst, she got on a call with 3 Arts Entertainment co-founder Erwin Stoff about the book they had just optioned and, as soon as he introduced the story to her, she was hooked. “I happened to be in an airport when me and Erwin talked, and then he immediately sent me the PDF of the book, and I read it on the plane, and I pretty much read the whole book in a six-hour plane ride. And I just… it was so delicious and horny and scandalous and a good mystery,” she said.In initially bringing the book to Starz before the move to Netflix, she sought to “expand the world” and the characters involved in the titular elite and dangerous clique, particularly from a psychological perspective. The network allowed her to tackle the more culture-war-adjacent aspects of the novel head-on to not only make the adaptation Cutter’s own but also make it more impactful and timely.

“And I also had this idea to really dial in the sort of culture war of it, because that’s not a part of the book. In the book, Sophie is returning home to Texas, as opposed to being a newbie. And I really, since I’m not from Texas, I thought it was easier for me to give Sophie sort of my story, which is I am an east-coaster, a liberal, whatever, and have her be that fish out of water and discovering that culture. And then it was just sort of digging in, and not to do politics for politics’ sake, but really to give it a real specificity of place and to up the stakes. It was like, ‘Well, what would these rich, white gun-toting ladies be?;And then it sort of led itself to the politics and the differences, and then, of course, there’s the abortion plot. So it was like, how do I make the most of that and make that as specific as possible? And I’ve said this before, but the day I read it was the day after… I think it was called SBA, which was a very, very restrictive Texas abortion bill that had just passed. And so, when I read the book, and it had this abortion plot, I thought, well, how can we do this and make it be, feel actually what Texas really is now? So all those things floated around in my head. And when I pitched it to stars, they said, ‘Oh, well, we love the culture war thing. Go for it,’ which I was surprised by anyway.”

Strong Visions Steered ‘The Hunting Wives,’ ‘The Thursday Murder Club’ to Success

Having a good partner to get a novel adaptation out there is only a small part of the battle, though. Netflix has been fortunate to land projects helmed by experienced creatives who know what they want from their takes on popular books. Cutter, for her part, was mostly interested in crafting what she believed would be a good direction for the Brittany Snow-led crime thriller, even if it would be a bit different from what fans of The Hunting Wives book would want.

“It wasn’t in my mind at all about the fans of the book, just because I had to pitch a whole season. I had to give a 40-minute pitch. So at that point, it was like I had to break the season. I could not just recite the plot of the book, so I had really already delved in by the time I had sold it. So it was sort of off my radar at that point. I mean, I did, at a certain point, look at Goodreads and kind of see what the fan reactions were, some glowing reviews, some less, just to sort of see what are areas that people love, and I wouldn’t want to get rid of, what are areas that maybe I could make better or whatever. So I had looked at Goodreads, but it really wasn’t a big consideration.”

Of course, with The Hunting Wives earning a renewal, Cutter admitted, “It’s much harder now with Season 2 to keep the fans out of my head” now that she’ll be taking the story to uncharted places. Like her, Columbus was convinced he had to take on The Thursday Murder Club because of how much he fell in love with Osman’s senior sleuths. In a separate conversation with Lovitt, the Home Alone director shared his belief that his passion for the story was what made it a critical and audience darling, and made the process of creating it all the easier when it came time to cast the titular Coopers Chase residents.

“I think in this way, I fell in love with the characters. I felt that these were such sort of well-defined, complex people that I immediately, when I was reading the book… of course, I’m going to start to think of it as a film. And I immediately saw the actors who would be playing the role if this were ever to be a film. So, Helen Mirren popped into my head, Sir Ben Kingsley, eventually Pierce Brosnan. And I just thought to myself, ‘This feels like a film I could really get passionate about.’ And as I continued to read, I started to really fall in love with the book. And as a result of that, I knew I had to make the movie. And I initially got into it because I became a fan.You know, I’ve done some film book to film adaptations that have been successful, some that haven’t, and the ones that were not as successful, really were not as successful, because I didn’t fall 100% in love with the material. And with Richard Osman book, I fell in love with it, and I wanted to be extraordinarily… as faithful as I could be, you know, in terms of, you know, not making a four and a half hour film.”

Although the two creators came from similar places for their novel adaptations, Columbus had a different approach to ensure the movie felt accurate to Osman’s cozy murder mystery. “Well, I realized that the best thing to do, particularly if you love the material and love the author, is to have the author as a collaborator,” he said. While the pen was firmly in the hands of Columbus and co-writer Katy Brand, Osman was closely involved throughout the process, even defending the casting of Brosnan as the lovable Ron when the decision earned a few raised eyebrows. He often went above and beyond the call of duty, too.The director shared that the author would not only read over script pages to ensure they sounded like things the titular foursome would say and do, but also share extensive notes and potential corrections to help guide Columbus in the right direction. Even if he wasn’t credited as a writer, Osman was right there crafting Coopers Chase and the layered mystery of Tony Curran’s (Geoff Bell) death alongside the director.

“It was countless times in the process of writing the script, Richard seeing every draft, getting notes from him in the course of shooting the film. I would say four out of the five days that we were shooting, every night, I would read over what we were shooting the next day. I was never 100% satisfied with it. I would send those pages to Richard. Richard would then send me three or four pages of ideas and notes, sometimes complete scenes that were rewritten, and it was just this intensely beautiful collaboration between the two of us. So I had the author of the book working alongside me during the entire process.”

In our exclusive Thursday Murder Club featurette, viewers can get a more in-depth look at how a mystery novel is brought off the page, from the writing to the sets, the cast, and more. Not unlike his time with the Harry Potter franchise, Columbus faced two predicaments in structuring his vision for the story — the size of the books and the presence of sequels in Osman’s series. “We realized that these books were incredibly popular with people, not only in the UK, but around the world,” he told Lovitt. “So, you know, it’s basically the same mantra I had with Potter. I wanted to read as much as possible.” He kept the second and third books in mind when constructing the film for Netflix, making a few critical changes, but always ensuring to keep the cast in the loop about what comes next and what details about the four crime-solving pensioners they should know that didn’t make the cut.

“You know that those kinds of things were important for us in terms of making the film, so even the actors knew where they were going with the characters. I sent the… before we started shooting, and during the rehearsal process, I basically went through the first book, and everything that was not in the film was not in the screenplay I wrote into specific character pieces for each actor. So in other words, I was able to give Joyce, or I was able to give Celia and Helen and Pierce, and Sir Ben pages of either dialogue or character description that were essential for their character. So they could read those and bring that to the character. So even if it was a subconscious thing, they knew where their character was, sort of where the origins of those characters were coming from in the book. So everything that was done in the first film is really a setup for subsequent films to come.”

Columbus and Cutter See Value in Creating New Readers Through Film and Television

Beyond simply business, Columbus believes the success of adaptations like The Thursday Murder Club is also vital at a time when fewer people than ever are picking up books. He described his own relationship with reading and how films like Bong Joon Ho‘s Mickey 17 spur him to read to learn why filmmakers make the changes they do when adapting a story. He sees movies and shows, or anything, really, inspiring new generations of readers as an overall positive, citing how the Harry Potter books helped his daughter discover the wonders of reading.

“I think it’s a great thing, because I think, you know, people are reading less and less, let’s be honest. And I think if you can get people to read and put down their phones for a little bit, I just think it’s phenomenal. You know, that’s almost a naive thing to say these days, but I do think it’s great, because I remember how many kids you know were turned on to reading by Harry Potter, and you can never really forget that, particularly when it happens to your own daughter. My own my daughter wouldn’t read anything, and she was dyslexic, and suddenly she started reading Potter, and her world changed, and so did mine, because she was the one who told me to make the first movie. So books have always been sort of such an enormous part of my life.”

Cutter largely shared Columbus’s sentiments, saying when asked about how the success of The Hunting Wives feeds back into the book, “I love it, and I’m also a big reader and really, really hoping to keep books alive.” Her joy comes not just from her “old school” appreciation of paper over Kindles and screens in general, but because of what it all means for everyone involved, from the original authors to the fans. For someone like Cobb or Osman, it means enjoying a new wave of appreciation that otherwise may not have happened, but Cutter believes the best gift is saved for the viewers. After they finish binge-watching all eight episodes, they have a whole other story waiting for them, set in the same East Texas town with the same clique of Hunting Wives navigating a similarly twisted web of secrets, but with new twists and extra flavor that only enrich the experience.

“I also, more personally, love May Cobb to bits, and couldn’t be happier for her to be having more success with her book as a result of the show, and then I’m happy for the fans too, because it feels like so many people were sort of clamoring for more. Like, ‘I want more. I wanted more episodes. When’s Season 2 going to be announced?’ So, I feel like the book is a great opportunity for fans to see a different side of the story, like they can… I’ve seen a lot of people who hadn’t read the book go buy the book, and it doesn’t feel like I haven’t seen any reactions where people are disappointed that it was different, you know, that they weren’t, or similar. It was more like, ‘Oh, cool. This is like a different… it’s like watching, like reading a different story, but with the characters that I love.’ So it was sort of like people got to enjoy both things separately, is what I feel like.”

What Other Novel Adaptations Are Coming to Netflix This Year?

Netflix isn’t slowing down when it comes to the book-to-screen pipeline. Next month alone, four new films and series based on existing stories will hit the platform, including an adaptation of Greg Cope White ‘s novel The Pink Marine titled Boots , the Keira Knighley- led The Woman in Cabin 10 based on Ruth Ware ‘s psychological thriller, an animated take on Roald Dahl ‘s The Twits , and Edward Berger ‘s latest feature The Ballad of a Small Player , following Lawrence Osborn ‘s novel.

The rest of the year will feature some of the streamer’s biggest adaptations yet, like Guillermo del Toro ‘s Frankenstein and the stacked historical series Death By Lightning , and Train Dreams , a spin on the novella by Denis Johnson , and the hotly anticipated follow-up to Clint Bentley ‘s much-lauded Sing Sing . As long as they keep succeeding and inspiring new readers in the process, don’t expect Netflix to stop welcoming creative stories from the page, big or small, anytime soon.

While you wait for those titles, The Thursday Murder Club , The Hunting Wives , and many more stories pulled from the bookshelves are now available to stream on Netflix.