Turning a beloved book into a TV series is a high-wire act. When it works, you get cultural phenomena like Game of Thrones. When it fails, you get a show that makes fans of the original want to burn their copies. In the age of streaming, the temptation to adapt popular novels is stronger than ever, but not every show can capture the magic of the page. Here are the worst book-to-TV adaptations, ranked by how badly they let down readers and viewers.
10. The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power (2022–Present)
Amazon's ambitious prequel to The Lord of the Rings promised to explore the Second Age of Middle-earth, a period rich with lore from J.R.R. Tolkien's appendices. Critics praised its stunning visuals and strong performances, but die-hard Tolkien fans were left cold. The show took massive liberties with the source material, altering character arcs and timelines in ways that felt disrespectful to the author's carefully crafted world. While it's not a terrible show on its own, it's a major disappointment for anyone who expected something on par with Peter Jackson's film trilogy.
9. Nancy Drew (2019–2023)
The CW's take on the iconic teen detective tried to modernize the character by making her moody and the tone dark. But fans of the original books—where Nancy is bubbly, optimistic, and fearless—felt betrayed. The show's overly somber atmosphere and lack of the series' trademark charm made it a slog. Despite a good cast and nice visuals, it never captured the spirit that made the novels a staple for generations.
8. Beauty & the Beast (2012–2016)
This CW reboot of the 1987 series tried to blend the classic fairy tale with a murder mystery, but the result was a mess. The two leads had zero romantic chemistry, and the mystery itself was neither interesting nor suspenseful. The first two seasons are nearly unwatchable, and while later seasons improved, they weren't worth the effort of getting through the early episodes.
7. The Rook (2019)
Based on a 2012 novel, this Starz miniseries had a promising premise: a woman wakes up on a bridge surrounded by dead bodies, with no memory of how she got there. But the execution was flat. The show deviated so far from the book that it was nearly unrecognizable, and it failed to maintain any momentum after its intriguing opening. What could have been a gripping psychological thriller ended up being just boring.
6. 13 Reasons Why (2017–2020)
The first season of this Netflix drama was actually compelling, following a teenage girl's suicide and the tapes she left behind. But as the series continued, it veered into exploitative territory, handling sensitive topics with little care. The show's later seasons were widely criticized for glamorizing suicide and for its graphic depictions of violence. For a story that started as a thoughtful exploration of teen trauma, it quickly became one of the most controversial adaptations in recent memory.
For more on the best and worst of TV, check out our list of the most perfect thriller shows of the last 20 years and our ranking of top mystery novels of the past 20 years.
