Pop culture news for readers: September 2, 2026

Here's how pop culture and literature have been intersecting lately ... 

Upcoming releases

• Emily Temple lists all the literary film and TV that can be streamed this month (Literary Hub).

• Here's what we know so far about the upcoming adaptation of The Bell Jar starring Billie Eilish as Sylvia Plath (Literary Hub).

• Watch the trailer for A Talent for Murder, in which Helen Mirren plays author Patricia Highsmith, being asked to write one more Ripley book (Literary Hub).

• Netflix has released a trailer for its limited-series adaptation of John Steinbeck's East of Eden (The Hollywood Reporter).

• See which actors and actresses are returning to Heated Rivalry for season 2 of the steamy hockey romance series (Variety).

• Clíodhna O’Sullivan’s bestselling romantasy novel Her Hidden Fire has been optioned for a YA TV series adaptation (Deadline).

• Film rights for Neil Kleid's not-yet-published novel Return to the Motherfreaking Fun Factory have already been acquired (Deadline).

The boy wizard

• Rupert Grint, famous for playing Ron Weasley in the original movies based on J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter novels, will play the adult version of Ron in the Broadway production of Harry Potter and the Cursed Child (The New York Times).

• HBO is rebranding its Harry Potter: The Official Film Podcast into Harry Potter: The Official Series Podcast, to serve as a companion to its upcoming TV series adaptation of the books (Variety).

• Here's another trailer from HBO's series adaptation of the Harry Potter books (Variety).

• Audible’s Harry Potter: The Full-Cast Audio Editions have sold over 5 million copies in less than a year (Deadline).

Pages & podcasts

• Preorders of the novel The Most Dangerous Games — a collaboration between YouTube star MrBeast and bestselling thriller author James Patterson — were shockingly low (The Hollywood Reporter).

• Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros will become a multipart graphic novel; the first volume comes out April 6 (People).

• Author Harlan Coben is getting his own podcast on Netflix (The Hollywood Reporter).