10 Live-Action Adaptations That Took Their Stories Beyond The Source Material

The success of a live-action adaptation can sometimes lead to another installment, but sometimes extending the story means the project falls outside the remaining source material – that is if there is any left at all. When this happens, the approach taken by the producers can vary. While one of the most common ways a story can be fleshed out after the source material has been exhausted is to write an original sequel, sometimes the new entry into the canon takes place before the already-established events.

Live-action adaptations can become TV shows or feature-length films. However, there are various examples that prove TV is a better medium for book adaptations. The process of translating the story from one medium to another can differ depending on factors such as the genre and how the tale was originally told. The original work can often take the form of a novel or comic book. However, other forms of source material are used – like video games, for instance. Regardless, it’s always interesting to see how an original addition to an established adaptation can fit within its respective lore.

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10 Blade Runner 2049

This Harrison Ford sequel continued the events of a book adaptation

Although it takes some noticeable creative liberties, 1982’s Blade Runner was a live-action adaptation of Philip K Dick’s 1968 novel, Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?What’s interesting about 2017’s Blade Runner 2049 is that Dick never wrote a follow-up to Electric Sheep. As such, Blade Runner 2049 only continues the events of the first movie, so it had no more literary works by Dick on which to base its narrative. The original novel may have been a standalone story, but Blade Runner finally earned itself a sequel due to its status as a long-standing cult classic.

9 Fantastic Beasts And Where To Find Them

This Harry Potter property expanded two stories at once

Beginning in 2016, the Fantastic Beasts trilogy serves as a prequel to the original Harry Potter movies. While the Harry Potter books are the main inspiration behind both movie franchises, the Fantastic Beasts films were brought into existence by adapting a 2001 book. The book in question, also titled Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, is a little unconventional. Instead of a traditional narrative, the literary work serves as an in-universe account of the fictitious Newt Scamander.

Although elements from the book were used for the movie adaptations, the nature of 2001’s Fantastic Beasts meant the narrative was rather thin. So, JK Rowling penned a script based on her own meta book to add to the canon of a movie franchise based on the main seven books – also written by Rowling. The following two Fantastic Beasts sequels were also written the same way and continued the events of the first movie, despite there only being one book.

8 You

The Netflix show quickly became its own entity

You season 5’s book milestone means there are now more seasons of the show than there are books by Caroline Kepnes. However, while Kepnes’ You book series was used as the source material in the early days of the show’s production, You season 1 was the only installment that adapted Kepnes’ efforts with any real faithfulness. After that, the show borrows the occasional character and loose storyline from the books, but it essentially becomes its own story.

As a result, what occurs in the You TV show could be seen as an alternate timeline for Joe, although that’s never referenced. Despite there being plenty of remaining books to adapt for You season 2 onward, Netflix chose to take the story in another direction. However, the accuracy with which the first book was adapted means the show does still technically take the story beyond its source material.

7 Game Of Thrones

The TV show overtook George RR Martin’s work

The show’s success is part of the reason why Game of Thrones season 8 went wrong. While the fantasy show was based on a series of books by George RR Martin, the demand for more Game of Thrones meant that the adaption overtook the source material ahead of the final season. As a result, Game of Thrones season 8 was put into production without a book on which to build its narrative. So, although it was poorly received, the TV show actually finished the story before the books by George RR Martin.

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Martin’s involvement with the adaptation of his work changed as the show grew. According to the New York Times, earlier seasons of Game of Thrones meant that Martin, “Wrote and read scripts, consulted on casting decisions, and visited sets.” Eventually, Martin stepped back to work on the final book of his saga. In the same interview, Martin spoke of when he started to fall away from the show: “By season 5 and 6, and certainly 7 and 8, I was pretty much out of the loop.”

6 The Umbrella Academy

Season 4 will take the titular academy beyond the comic book timeline

The Umbrella Academy has enjoyed a fairly standard adaption process, for the most part. While the first three seasons have been based on comic books written by My Chemical Romance’s frontman, Gerard Way, The Umbrella Academy season 4 is exciting and worrying for the same reason. The final season will be the first installment not to be based on any source material. As such, the Netflix adaptation of Way’s work will take the main characters further than they ever went in the comics.

5 Watchmen (HBO)

The Watchmen TV show leaves Snyder’s 2009 movie untouched

It would be forgivable to assume that the 2019 Watchmen spinoff show was a long-awaited sequel to Zack Snyder’s 2009 movie of the same name. However, this isn’t the case. While Snyder’s Watchmen was also based on the 1986-1987 Alan Moore comic run of the same name, the TV show is actually a sequel to the comic rather than the show. Zack Snyder’s movie was very faithful to Moore’s story, but the ending was drastically different. However, the Watchmen show is canon to the comics, keeps the original ending intact, and also continues the story.

4 Son Of The Mask

Jim Carrey was absent from the second movie

1994’s The Mask is one of Jim Carrey’s best movies, but he didn’t return for the 2005 standalone sequel, Son of the Mask. Both movies are based on the lore of a comic book series, but only Carrey’s film is an adaptation of one of the stories. Instead, Son of the Mask introduces Jamie Kennedy as Tim Avery – an original character. The failed follow-up to the 1994 classic relies too heavily on the charm of its predecessor and instead declines to turn to the source material. As such, Son of the Mask introduces various concepts that are never featured in the comics.

3 Altered Carbon

This Netflix adaptation tried to create a more coherent timeline

Netflix’s Altered Carbon TV show was based on a book trilogy by Richard K Morgan, and the author’s stories originally had an anthological feel – despite also being linear. Altered Carbon season 1 was essentially a verbatim adaptation of the first book in the series, also titled Altered Carbon. However, in an attempt to make season 2 feel more like a traditional second season, Netflix wrote an original story for Anthony Mackie’s Takeshi Kovacs. There were no more than a handful of references to the final two books in Altered Carbon season 2, meaning the story completely diverted from Morgan’s work.

2 Uncharted

Tom Holland’s Uncharted movie could be a prequel the games never saw

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2022’s Uncharted movie made some drastic changes to the game franchise, but it was still recognizable as an adaptation. While the age of Tom Holland’s Nathan Drake and Mark Wahlberg’s Victor “Sully” Sullivan drew much criticism, it could be argued that the movie is a reworked version of the events shown in the games. This theory is reinforced by the Uncharted post-credit scene, which shows Holland and Wahlberg looking like much more recognizable versions of their game counterparts. For all of its shortcomings, the Uncharted movie still introduced new characters and an adventure that doesn’t occur in the game universe.

1 Joker

Joaquin Phoenix’s version of the iconic DC villain may not be all that he seems

DC Comics has explored various origin stories for the Joker over the years, and while there are a few versions of the tale that garner more attention than others, the villain’s beginnings remain unclear in comic book canon. 2019’s Joker provided a live-action version of one of these title character theories, but it also made some interesting changes that imply the story takes place long before the commonly-known version of the Joker ever existed.

There is a popular theory that Arthur Fleck wasn’t the real Joker. This is reinforced by the fact that Phoenix’s Joker was known as Arthur Fleck before his transformation, and this name is never used in the comics. In addition, the age gap between Bruce Wayne and Arthur in the movie is much too big for the pair to ever believably square off. Therefore, it’s more likely that Arthur’s Joker is the in-universe inspiration for the more familiar version of the villain seen in other properties. In other words, the comic book Joker is a copycat who imitates Arthur Fleck.