Pop culture news for readers: September 30, 2026

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

• Netflix has announced the full cast for its series adaptation of Hannah Grace's bestselling hockey romance novel Icebreaker (Deadline). 

• Here's your first look at Matthew Macfadyen playing George Smiley in the upcoming TV series Legacy of Spies, based on the John le Carré novel of the same name (Deadline). 

• The comic book series The Crying Boy will be adapted into a movie by the producer of the latest Resident Evil film (Deadline).

• Author Ali Hazelwood has announced both a sequel to her hit novel The Love Hypothesis and adaptation plans for that sequel; The Two-Body Problem book will come out February 2 (Variety).

• Adrienne Miller will write the pilot for her short story "Shadow Work," which Amazon is developing into a series; she'll also executive produce it (Variety).

• Another movie adaptation of William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet is in the works, with actors expected to speak in Elizabethan English (The Hollywood Reporter).

• Amazon is adapting the graphic novel Stillwater by Chip Zdarsky and Ramón K. Pérez into a TV series, in which Ben Hardy will star (Variety).

• The first feature film based on George R.R. Martin‘s A Song of Ice and Fire fantasy book series has a release date; Game of Thrones: Aegon’s Conquest will hit theaters June 1, 2029 (The Hollywood Reporter). 

• Singer-songwriter Tori Amos is releasing a new children's book next year; A Sorta Fairytale comes out April 6 and returns readers to the world of her previous book, Tori and the Muses (People).

• Take a peek at an upcoming Audible Original production of Bram Stoker's Dracula; Jonathan Bailey and Maggie Gyllenhaal are among the star-studded cast (People).

• Here's everything we know so far about the adaptation of Taylor Jenkins Reid's novel Atmosphere (Book Riot).