The original post: /r/television by /u/Gaiduku on 2025-09-12 18:31:20+00:00.
This question could probably include films too but I’m sticking with TV for now as that’s where most book and other adaptations end up these days.
It’s very common for TV shows to totally butcher the source material. Some changes between mediums are necessary but a lot of the time I’m sitting there wondering why they’ve decided to just rewrite the entire story. Shows like the Witcher or the Wheel of Time just feel like there was a total disregard for the books they’re based on.
Sometimes these departures are great. Long, long, time is incredibly different from how that section of the Last of Us video game played out but the changes were worth it.
What I’m asking for is what shows just stuck to the source material as close as possible? Were they less good than shows that decided to go off piste immediately? The two that immediately jump out to me are:
- The early seasons of Game of Thrones stuck pretty close to the source material (when there was source material to stick close to). Things were simplified, a lot of characters were removed but those early seasons didn’t make any major changes (and are generally considered great tv)
- Pretty much the entire run of the Expanse. The changes they did make all made sense for TV. Characters from later books were brought in early and a few minor characters were combined to give Drummer a more substantial role across multiple seasons. The general plot is pretty close to the first 5 or 6 of the books though.
Any other major ones that spring to mind?