Be on the lookout for Kirkus’ in-depth column on Season 3 of the AMC/AMC+ show Anne Rice’s Interview With the Vampire, now renamed Anne Rice’s The Vampire Lestat. The new episodes are specifically based on Rice’s Kirkus-starred 1985 horror-fantasy sequel, which tells the story of Lestat de Lioncourt’s multi-century life as a fanged creature of the night, starting with his early days as a naïve and thoughtful young man from a noble family in 18th-century France and continuing into the 20th century, when he becomes a rock star in America. The new season, which stars the lively Sam Reid as Lestat, premieres on June 7. For now, here are four other book-to-screen adaptations coming soon:
June 5: Cape Fear (limited series premiere, Apple TV)
This limited series is based on John D. MacDonald’s Kirkus-starred 1958 thriller The Executioners, in which violent rapist Max Cady terrorizes lawyer Sam Bowden and his family after serving a 14-year prison sentence; Bowden’s testimony had led to Cady’s conviction, and the ex-con wants revenge. The novel previously inspired the 1962 film Cape Fear, starring Gregory Peck as Bowden and Robert Mitchum as Cady, and its 1991 remake, which starred Nick Nolte and Robert De Niro and was directed by Martin Scorsese. The new series, inspired mainly by the brutal 1991 movie, stars Javier Bardem as Cady and Amy Adams and Patrick Wilson as the married attorneys who once represented him. Bardem’s casting is particularly promising, as he won an Oscar for his unforgettable role as an unstoppable hitman in the 2007 film adaptation of Cormac McCarthy’s No Country for Old Men, and Adams’ and Wilson’s work is always worth watching.
June 10: Every Year After (series premiere, Prime Video)
Carley Fortune’s 2022 bestseller Every Summer After inspired his new series, which will likely appeal to fans of the similarly structured show The Summer I Turned Pretty (based on Jenny Han’s YA novels). In Fortune’s book, Persephone “Percy” Fraser spends every summer during her teen years at her family’s cabin in Barry’s Bay, Ontario, where teen brothers Sam and Charlie Florek live; Percy and Sam eventually have a romantic relationship, but they break up suddenly at 18. Twelve years later, Percy returns to Barry’s Bay for the funeral of the Florek siblings’ mother, with whom she was close; there, she sees Sam again, and they both grapple with the past. The new series stars Sadie Soverall (Fate: The Winx Saga) and Matt Cornett (High School Musical: The Musical: The Series).
June 14: Grantchester (Season 11 premiere, PBS)
This is the final season of this long-running show, which airs on PBS’s Masterpiece in the United States. It’s based on James Runcie’s period mystery novels featuring Sidney Chambers, a 30-something Anglican vicar and World War II veteran who solves crimes in the English village of Grantchester. The seven-book series began with 2012’s Sidney Chambers and the Shadow of Death; the most recent entry is the 2019 novel The Road to Grantchester. Fans will be sorry to see the end of the show, set during the 1950s, which adapted several of Runcie’s stories and invented many new ones. Its stories frequently confronted systemic prejudice in British society, particularly as they affected LGBTQ+ people. The first four seasons starred the charming and popular James Norton as Chambers and Robson Green as skilled Detective Inspector Geordie Keating; in later seasons, Keating teamed with amateur detective/clergymen Will Davenport, played by Unreal’s Tom Brittney, and, most recently, Alphy Kotteram, solidly depicted by Rishi Nair of Hollyoaks fame.
June 19: Girls Like Girls (theatrical film premiere)
Author/actor/musician Hayley Kiyoko directed and co-wrote this movie, based on her own 2023 YA novel. That book—which was inspired by Kiyoko’s 2015 song of the same name, and its music video—tells the story of two teenage girls, Coley and Sonya, in 2006 Oregon. Coley, who recently moved to town, grieves her mother who recently died by suicide and lives with her estranged father, whom she barely knows; Sonya, meanwhile, deals with a demanding mother and a troubling ex-boyfriend. When the girls meet, there’s an undeniable mutual attraction, but their personal struggles, and Sonya’s inexperience with dating girls, complicate their relationship. Kirkus’ reviewer called the novel “a searing romance,” and the movie, which stars Maya da Costa (Under the Bridge) as Coley and Myra Molloy (Halfworlds) as Sonya, promises a similarly sweeping love story. It also features appealingly sun-drenched imagery by director of photography Sonja Tsypin.
David Rapp is the senior Indie editor.
