Be on the lookout for Kirkus’ upcoming column on Scarpetta, a new Prime Video show based on the bestselling crime-novel series by Patricia Cornwell. It premieres on March 11 and stars three Oscar winners: Nicole Kidman as medical examiner Kay Scarpetta; Jamie Lee Curtis as her difficult sister, Dorothy; and Ariana DeBose as Kay’s niece, Lucy. In the meantime, here are four more book-to-screen adaptations coming soon:

March 6: Outlander (Season 8 premiere, Starz)

This is the final season of this long-running series, based on the bestselling novels by Diana Gabaldon, and its fans will be sorry to see it go. It tells the story of Claire Randall (portrayed with impressive nuance by Caitríona Balfe), a British nurse from the 1940s who visits a magical stone circle in Scotland that whisks her two centuries back in time. She quickly meets Scottish fugitive Jamie Fraser (Sam Heughan, also great), whom she later marries; together, they become deeply involved in various historical events, from the Battle of Culloden in Scotland to the Revolutionary War in the British colonies—with lots more time-hopping to further complicate matters. This season draws on events from the two most recent novels: Written in My Own Heart’s Blood (2014) and Go Tell the Bees That I Am Gone (2021). As we noted in our review of the last season, this ambitious, complex show skillfully juggles multiple genres (historical fiction, romance, time-travel fantasy), but also takes time to craft quiet, affecting moments along the way. Viewers mourning this show’s demise can still watch its spinoff prequel series, Outlander: Blood of My Blood, about Claire’s and Jamie’s ancestors—and a second season of that show is in the works.

March 13: Reminders of Him (theatrical film premiere)

This is the third film based on a Colleen Hoover bestseller to come out in the last two years (after adaptations of 2016’s It Ends With Us and 2019’s Regretting You), and another, based on Verity (2021), is set for release in October. Reminders of Him, based on Hoover’s 2022 bestseller and directed by Love at First Sight’s Vanessa Caswill, focuses on Kenna Rowan, a woman seeking to reconnect with her young daughter, Diem, after serving prison time for involuntary manslaughter. While driving drunk, Kenna was in an accident that resulted in the death of her boyfriend, Scotty Landry; soon afterward, she discovered that she was pregnant with his child. Now, Scotty’s parents, who’ve been raising Diem, don’t want Kenna in her life; as Kenna deals with this and her other struggles as an ex-con, she finds solace with Scotty’s best friend, Ledger Ward. The trailer promises a sweeping melodrama, starring Maika Monroe (who was excellent in the 2024 horror film Longlegs) as Kenna and Tyriq Withers (I Know What You Did Last Summer) as Ledger, with TV stalwarts Lauren Graham (Gilmore Girls) and Bradley Whitford (The West Wing) as Scotty’s parents.

March 18: Imperfect Women (limited series premiere, Apple TV+)

As with many Apple TV+ adaptations, this miniseries boasts an impressive cast, including Elisabeth Moss (The Handmaid’s Tale), Kerry Washington (Scandal), and Kate Mara (House of Cards). The original 2020 novel by Araminta Hall centers on the complex relationship of three longtime friends. When one of them (Mara’s wealthy character, Nancy) is murdered, the other two—Mary (Moss), a stay-at-home mom with a cheating spouse; and Eleanor (Washington), a driven humanitarian worker—investigate the crime, which may be tied to an affair that Nancy was having with a mystery man. Some fine supporting players appear, as well: For All Mankind’s Joel Kinnaman plays Robert, Nancy’s suspect husband; and Billions’ Corey Stoll portrays Howard, Mary’s spouse.

March 20: Project Hail Mary (theatrical film premiere)

Ryan Gosling stars in this movie based on the Kirkus-starred 2021 SF novel by Andy Weir (author of 2014’s The Martian). In the book, Ryland Grace is a former molecular biologist, now a junior high-school science teacher, whose unusual theories make him a candidate for a desperate outer-space mission to figure out why Earth’s sun is dimming—a phenomenon that could quickly plunge the planet into an ice age. The mission goes tragically awry, but Ryland unexpectedly makes contact with an alien on a similar quest. The movie is directed by Oscar-winning filmmakers Phil Lord and Christopher Miller (Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse), and it’s sure to appeal to fans of The Martian; that book (and movie) also featured a likable astronaut forced to rely on his wits for survival—and, as viewers of Barbie and The Fall Guy can attest, Gosling is a reliably affable screen presence, on- or off-world.

David Rapp is the senior Indie editor.