The Most Anticipated Book-to-TV Adaptations Coming in 2022

The start of a new year is a great time for planning, with the prevalent urge to take out a calendar and map out the year. Some people make resolutions, others make lists of goals, and fellow nerds make a list of books we want to read in the upcoming year. Since TV Guide is full of book and TV nerds, every year we compile a list of the biggest book-to-TV adaptations releasing in the upcoming year so you can be ready and knowledgable when those big premieres launch. 

With the TV landscape constantly expanding and evolving, there are so many potential places for books to be adapted and brought to life on the small screen. Here's a look at which adaptations we can't wait to see in 2022. 

RETURNING SHOWS

Outlander Season 6 (Starz)

Book: Breath of Snow and Ashes by Diana Gabaldon 
Premiere Date: March 6 

Outlander has diverged from Diana Gabaldon's romance novels that inspired the series, but every season has still been primarily based on Gabaldon's books in chronological order. Breath of Snow and Ashes is the sixth book and thus will serve as the backbone of Season 6, which sees Jamie (Sam Heughan) and Claire (Caitriona Balfe) struggling to expand Fraser's Ridge as the American Revolutionary War grows nearer. Season 6 will also force them to contend with the newspaper article about the fire that Bree (Sophie Skelton) brought with her from the future. 

Bridgerton Season 2 (Netflix)

Book: The Viscount Who Loved Me by Julia Quinn
Premiere Date: March 25 

It's time to return to the 'ton in early 2022, and this time we'll follow the romantic exploits of the eldest Bridgerton sibling — Anthony (Jonathan Bailey). The second book in Julia Quinn's Bridgerton book series is an enemies-to-lovers tale as Anthony Bridgerton realizes it's time to settle down and start a family but is terrified of doing it with anyone he truly loves out of fear he will devastate them by dying early like his father. In the novel, it's Kate Sheffield who disabuses him of this notion while also putting him in his place, but she's Kate Sharma, played by Simone Ashley, in Season 2 of the Netflix series.   

Shadow and Bone Season 2 (Netflix)

Books: Storm & Siege, Rise & Ruin, and Crooked Kingdom by Leigh Bardugo
Premiere Date: TBD

The first season of Netflix's Shadow & Bone adaptation merged the first book in Leigh Bardugo's Grisha trilogy, Shadow & Bone, with Six of Crows, a sequel book set in the same universe. The ripple effects of bringing those two books together has us unsure exactly which of Bardugo's other Grishaverse novels will be the source material for Season 2, which is currently in the works. So we recommend you just go ahead and complete the series so you can be prepared for whatever The Darkling (Ben Barnes) has up his exquisite sleeves. 

NEW SHOWS

Lord of the Rings (Amazon Prime Video)

Book: The Lord of the Rings trilogy by J.R.R. Tolkein 
Release Date: Sept. 2

It's been almost five years since Amazon Prime Video announced it would be investing in the Middle Earth universe. The series is currently billed as the most expensive show to air on TV but it won't be rehashing the events of Tolkein's novels or the Peter Jackson epic trilogy. The Amazon Prime Video take will be set thousands of years before Frodo came into contact with that cursed ring, but this series is bound to be a blockbuster event so it is worth revisiting the novels to understand what the new show will set up. 

The Essex Serpent (AppleTV+)

Book: The Essex Serpent by Sarah Perry
Release Date: Early 2022

This adaptation of Sarah Perry's acclaimed 2016 novel comes with an all-star cast including Claire Danes and Tom Hiddleston. Danes will play Cora, a woman who escapes her abusive husband to find refuge in a small town in Essex that she becomes convinced is haunted by a mythological sea serpent. It's a period piece full of whimsy and drama, and with a cast like this, it's a contender for Emmy conversations. Filming concluded in June of 2021 so the series is expected to drop in the first part of 2022.

Love & Death (HBO Max) 

Book: Evidence of Love: A True Story of Passion and Death in the Suburbs, "Love & Death In Silicon Prairie, Part I & II" by Jim Atkinson
Release Date: TBD

David E. Kelley is writing the adaptation of Jim Atkinson and Joe Bob Briggs' true-crime book about a Texas housewife, Candy Montgomery, who murdered her best friend Betty Gore in 1980 with an ax. Elizabeth Olsen will play Candy in the HBO Max series, directed by Lesli Linka Glatter, and after Olsen's performance in WandaVision, we know the actress knows how to pull off destructive-in-the-face-of-grief very well. This is going to be a must-read for the true-crime fanatics out there. 

The Sandman (Netflix)

Book: The Sandman by Neil Gaiman (graphic novel series)
Release Date: TBD

Neil Gaiman's iconic graphic novel series The Sandman has previously been deemed unadaptable, but now the author steps into an executive producer role with a Netflix budget so his story about life, death, and love will come to life and is confirmed to debut in 2022. 

Daisy Jones & the Six (Amazon Prime Video)

Book: Daisy Jones and The Six by Taylor Jenkins Reid
Release Date: TBD

While Taylor Jenkins Reid's novel, Daisy Jones and The Six, isn't strictly about Fleetwood Mac, the similarities between the protagonist Daisy Jones, a rebellious teenager with a killer voice who weaves her way into a rock-band in the late '60s, and the iconic group led by Stevie Nicks aren't few in number. The novel is written like an oral history of the drugs, sex, and rock-n-roll of a bygone era, and the Amazon Prime series starring Riley Keogh as the titular Daisy and Sam Claflin as the band's co-frontman Billy Dunne is bound to be a wild ride. 

The Time Traveler's Wife (HBO/HBO Max)

Book: The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger
Release Date: TBD

Audrey Niffenegger's book about a marriage defined by the husband's ability to blip in and out of time was already made into a movie starring Eric Bana and Rachel McAdams as the troubled couple. However, the movie drew the ire of book fans due to its numerous deviations from the source materials. HBO will attempt to do a more faithful adaptation in 2022 with Theo James and Rose Leslie now playing Henry and Claire. Former Doctor Who showrunner Steven Moffat is executive producing the series set for HBO in the new year. It's worth revisiting the novel to see if this new take will measure up to the bittersweet love story captured in Niffenegger's pages. 

Pachinko (AppleTV+)

Book: Pachinko by Min Jin Lee
Release Date: TBD

Min Jin Lee's second novel, Pachinko, about a 20th century Korean family that emigrates to Japan was a finalist for the National Book Award for Fiction in 2017. It's a sprawling, generational story that explores the difficulties of a Korean family trying to live in the country that formerly colonized their own. The AppleTV+ series was ordered in 2019 and finished filming in the spring of 2021. Considering the pedigree of the source material, the series is one our most highly anticipated watches of the year.