Phrasemaker

2026 has barely started and is already shaping up to be a great year for science-fiction and fantasy on screen. Some of these adaptations have been in development for decades now, and kept us waiting for stills and trailers for a while.

Taken together, they create a year where genre stories dominate cinemas and streaming queues. Here is a guide to the biggest ones, and the books you should read before everyone else starts talking about them.

Project Hail Mary

Based on: Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir
Release: March 20, 2026

Andy Weir returns to the big screen with a story about a man who wakes up alone on a spaceship with no memory and one impossible mission. Ryan Gosling is playing Ryland Grace, which already guarantees cultural traction. The Martian was about a one-man survival story, but Project Hail Mary takes it further, as it is about solving a cosmic puzzle one careful calculation at a time in order to save humanity.

Why read it now
The book hides its best surprises behind layers of memory and problem solving. Going in blind is part of the joy. Once the movie goes out, half of those reveals will go public. Reading it now protects the experience.

You can buy Project Hail Mary on Amazon

Dune Messiah

Based on: Dune Messiah by Frank Herbert
Release: 18th December 2026

Denis Villeneuve is moving deeper into the desert. Dune Messiah is shorter than the first book but far more political. It explores the cost of prophecy and what it means to become a symbol that people can no longer separate from destiny. Dune was about the rise of Paul Atreides, Messiah is about the consequences of that rise, crushing him from every direction.

Why read it now
The novel is compact and surprisingly intimate. It will help you follow the twists and understand why many readers see this as the real turning point of the series.

Dune Messiah is on Amazon here.

Neuromancer

Based on: Neuromancer by William Gibson
Release: Late 2026 on Apple TV Plus

After decades of development attempts, Gibson’s cyberpunk landmark is finally getting a screen adaptation. The world of Case, Molly, artificial intelligences, and neon-lit cities is dense and atmospheric, but perfect for a series format. If the show hits, a whole generation is going to discover that the origin of most modern sci-fi aesthetics sits in a single 1984 novel.

Why read it now
The book is stranger and colder than most people expect. Reading it before the show lands gives you the raw version of cyberpunk before any smoothing or streamlining. Also, it’s cyberpunk’s birth certificate.

Paperback, Kindle, Hardcover, and Audiobook available on Amazon.

The Magician’s Nephew

Based on: The Magician’s Nephew by C. S. Lewis
Release: Expected late 2026 on Netflix

Gerwig is not starting her Narnia cycle with the wardrobe. She is starting with the creation of the world. The Magician’s Nephew feels like a mix of myth, childhood fear, quiet wonder, and cosmic beginnings. It has talking animals, a dying world, deep forests, magic rings, and the first seeds of everything that will come later in the series.

Why read it now
This is one of the strangest and most lyrical books in the entire Narnia canon. Reading it first prepares you for the tone Gerwig seems to gravitate toward.

Mass market paperback and more here on Amazon.

Sunrise on the Reaping

Based on: Sunrise on the Reaping by Suzanne Collins
Release: November 2026

This is almost unavoidable in cultural terms. Collins returns to the world of Panem with a prequel focused on the Second Quarter Quell. The book is tight, violent, and more political than early readers expected. The film adaptation is already in active preparation and will certainly dominate social media when it arrives.

Why read it now
Knowing the book first helps you understand how Collins frames the Games as a cycle of propaganda, trauma, and institutional cruelty.

Sunrise On the Reaping is avaiable in all formats except paperback here.

A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms

Based on: The Tales of Dunk and Egg by George R. R. Martin
Release: 18th January 2026 on HBO

HBO is (almost silently) returning to Westeros with an adaptation of Martin’s novellas about Ser Duncan the Tall and his young companion Egg. These stories are smaller, warmer, and more personal than Game of Thrones. They focus on the early hints of the Targaryen decline and on a friendship that becomes legendary.

Why read it now
Each novella is short and approachable. Reading them now gives you a human-scale version of Westeros before the show inevitably amplifies the stakes.

Available on Amazon here.

These adaptations will shape a lot of next year’s cultural conversation. Reading the books before the shows and films arrive gives you richer context and a better sense of what each story is trying to say. It is also a chance to discover the details that never survive the jump to the screen.

Disclaimer: Some of the links in this article are Amazon affiliate links. This means we may earn a small commission if you purchase through them, at no extra cost to you. We only recommend books we genuinely anticipate or enjoy.