Literary adaptations: July 21, 2026

Here's a roundup of news and reflections on literary adaptations and crossovers.

• A now-deleted Instagram post seemed to reveal that Heated Rivalry’s Connor Storrie is co-starring in another literary adaptation — this time, of Sylvia Plath's The Bell Jar (Entertainment Weekly).

• Some of the actors who voiced characters on PBS's cartoon version of The Magic School Bus reunited last weekend, which People uses to remind us that a live-action adaptation starring Elizabeth Banks as Ms. Frizzle is in the works.

• PBS Masterpiece, the BBC, and Fox are teaming up for a high-end series adaptation of The Portrait of a Lady by Henry James (Deadline).

• The second (and final) season of the TV series based on Gabriel García Marquez's One Hundred Years of Solitude features a seven-episode drop, then a cinematic two-hour finale a few weeks later, and several theatrical events in select Colombian cities (Variety).

• Writer Valerie Stivers thinks that the upcoming Rachel Cusk novel, Life of M, is based on actress Natalie Portman, with whom Cusk is friends (The Hollywood Reporter).

• Watch the trailer for season one of The Shards, based on the Bret Easton Ellis novel (Literary Hub).

• Son of the Mob by Gordon Korman and She’s with Me by Jessica Cunsolo have both been picked up for screen adaptations by YA-focused company Red Sage Studios (Deadline).

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