Netflix Options Over 25 Books for Future Adaptations

Streaming giant Netflix has quietly secured the screen options for more than 25 books, memoirs, and true-crime stories over the past year. The underlying rights acquisitions, revealed through public filings and industry tracking, offer a clear window into where the platform expects to direct its future film and television slate.

Before getting ahead of ourselves, it is worth remembering what an option actually represents in screen development. Striking an option deal does not automatically mean a project will make it past pre-production. An option simply grants a streamer or production company the exclusive right to develop a property for a limited period, typically between 12 and 18 months, while screenplays are drafted, budgets are calculated, and talent is attached. Many optioned books remain in development limbo for years or expire quietly. Still, examining which titles Netflix is placing its bets on reveals clear patterns in what executives are looking for next.

Doubling Down on Bestselling Authors

Several of the newly optioned titles build directly on existing, highly lucrative relationships with popular novelists. British author Richard Osman’s recent release, We Solve Murders, was optioned early in the year. The novel introduces a fresh crime-solving duo made up of a retired police officer and his daughter-in-law, extending the streamer’s push into cosy mystery territory following its adaptation of Osman’s The Thursday Murder Club.

Harlan Coben also features prominently among the acquisitions. Netflix has optioned Drop Shot, the second entry in his long-running Myron Bolitar series, signalling a long-term commitment to expanding the Bolitar universe on screen following previous adaptation announcements. Meanwhile, romance readers will note the acquisition of Tia Williams’ Seven Days in June. The bestselling novel was previously under development at Amazon Prime Video before the rights became available and shifted over to Netflix, along with a second unnamed title by Williams.

This steady appetite for established commercial fiction matches broader shifts seen across new book releases, where screen rights are frequently queried before titles even hit bookshop shelves.

Psychological Horror and High-Literary Ambitions

Beyond commercial romance and thrillers, Netflix’s latest wave of acquisitions includes a few surprisingly sharp turns into dark satire, classic horror, and high literary drama.

In the psychological horror space, Olivie Blake’s satirical novel Girl Dinner has been optioned as a potential series. Centred on an elite sorority harbouring a disturbing secret beneath its glossy exterior, the project is being positioned as a potential spiritual successor to dark character studies like You. The streamer has also picked up Shirley Jackson’s psychological horror classic The Bird’s Nest, returning to the author’s catalogue years after finding critical success with its television adaptation of The Haunting of Hill House.

Perhaps the most ambitious literary pick-up on the list is Toni Morrison’s 1970 debut novel, The Bluest Eye. Adapting a Nobel Prize winner’s foundational text requires an extraordinary level of care and precision, given the emotional depth and historical weight of the source material. If you ask me, taking on Morrison is easily the boldest creative gamble among these latest filings.

Historical Survival and Gritty Detective Fiction

The remaining titles demonstrate a distinct pivot toward historical survival narratives and grounded true-crime projects, catering to audiences looking for complex non-fiction stories alongside standard screen fare.

Among these is Bryan Burrough’s non-fiction study The Gunfighters, which interrogates the violent realities behind Wild West mythology. Netflix has also secured All Blood Runs Red, which recounts the historical account of Eugene Bullard, who served as history’s first African-American fighter pilot. On the crime fiction front, hardboiled detective novel Right as Rain by George P. Pelecanos, a veteran writer and producer known for his work on HBO’s The Wire, has been optioned for potential television development.

The appetite for gritty factual storytelling aligns with ongoing reader fascination with true crime reporting and historical biography. While it remains to be seen which of these 25-plus options will actually secure a formal production greenlight and land on our watchlists, the slate provides a fascinating map of the stories Netflix hopes to tell next.