The movie industry has been adapting books for the screen since the dawn of cinema, but these days more and more of those adaptations are thrillers. The thriller book community has a loyal following that translates well to the screen. From Psycho to Gone Girl, book-to-screen thrillers continue to draw in audiences. This goes for TV adaptations, too.
Mystery and thriller adaptations can be found on just about any network or streaming service. This summer has seen a number of thriller TV adaptations, including one highly anticipated release based on the 2014 bestselling novel by E. Lockhart. If mystery and suspense are your thing, then check out these new suspenseful shows.
8
‘Murderbot’
Release Date: May 16
Murderbot is Apple TV+’s thrilling new sci-fi action comedy about a private security cyborg who gains free will and must hide this fact from the humans working all around it. The show is based on The Murderbot Diaries book series written by Martha Wells. The first book in the series, All Systems Red, came out in 2017. The show was developed by brothers Paul Weitz and Chris Weitz, who have written and directed comedies such as American Pie and About a Boy.
Alexander Skarsgård (True Blood) stars as the newly autonomous Murderbot. Members of the science team the android is assigned to protect are played by Noma Dumezweni (The Little Mermaid), David Dastmalchian (Late Night with the Devil), Sabrina Wu (Joy Ride), Akshay Khanna (The Doll Factory), Tamara Podemski (Reservation Dogs), and Tattiawna Jones (Station Eleven). Murderbot currently holds a 97% rating from critics on Rotten Tomatoes.
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7
‘The Better Sister’
Release Date: May 29
The Better Sister is an eight-part limited series developed for the screen by Ocean’s 8 co-writer Olivia Milch. This Amazon thriller is based on Alafair Burke’s 2019 novel. Burke is a mystery writer best known for the Ellie Hatcher series and the Samantha Kincaid series, as well as stand-alone thrillers like The Ex and The Wife.
Jessica Biel (The Sinner) and Elizabeth Banks (The Hunger Games).star as Chloe Taylor and Micky Macintosh, estranged sisters forced to come together after tragedy. Corey Stoll (Billions) plays Chloe’s current husband…who also happens to be Nicky’s ex-husband, Adam Macintosh. The remainder of the cast features Kim Dickens (Gone Girl), Bobby Naderi (The Beekeeper), Gabriel Sloyer (Griselda), Gloria Reuben (Elsbeth), Maxwell Acee Donovan (That ’90s Show), Matthew Modine (Stranger Things), and Lorraine Toussaint (Concrete Cowboy).
6
‘Dept. Q’
Release Date: May 29
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May 29, 2025
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Netflix
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Chloe Pirrie
Merritt Lingard
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Alexej Manvelov
Akram Salim
Netflix’s Dept. Q is a British crime thriller based on the Danish noir book series written by Jussi Adler-Olsen. The first book in the series, Mercy (Kvinden i buret), was published in 2007 and was adapted into a Danish film called The Keeper of Lost Causes in 2013. With this new TV adaptation comes a fresh spin on the story of Detective Chief Inspector Carl Morck (Matthew Goode), who is back on the job setting up a cold case unit after nearly being killed on the job. For his first case, he must find out what happened to a prosecutor who vanished without a trace several years earlier.
The series was developed by Scott Frank (Godless) and Chandni Lakhani (Vigil). Dept. Q features a stellar cast that includes Chloe Pirrie (The Queen’s Gambit), Alexej Manvelov (Jack Ryan), Leah Byrne (Deadwater Fell), Jamie Sives (Annika), Kate Dickie (Game of Thrones), and Kelly Macdonald (Boardwalk Empire). Dept. Q has a 93% rating from audiences on Rotten Tomatoes and there is already talk of a second season.
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5
‘Sara – Woman in the Shadows’
Release Date: June 3
Sara – Woman in the Shadows, also known as Sara: La donna nell’ombra, is a six-part Italian crime drama based on the Le indagini di Sara (The Investigations of Sara) book series by Marurizio De Giovanni. The first book was published in 2019. The miniseries stars Teresa Saponangelo (Born for You) as retired intelligence agent Sara Morozzi, who returns to espionage after the sudden death of her son.
The show was adapted for the screen by Mario Cristiani (L’orizzonte chiuso), Donatella Diamantim (Adoration), and Giovanni Galassi (Resta con me). The cast includes Claudia Gerini (John Wick: Chapter 2), Flavio Furno (Marconi), Chiara Celotto (Nottefonda), Carmine Recano (Belcanto), and Giacomo Giorgio (The Sea Beyond). The show currently has 6.3/10 stars on IMDB.
4
‘The Survivors’
Release Date: June 6
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June 6, 2025
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Netflix
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Miriama Smith
Detective Senior Sergeant Sue Pendlebury
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Charlie Vickers
Kieran Elliott
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Robyn Malcolm
Verity Elliott
The Survivors is Netflix’s new six-part Australian miniseries based on bestselling writer Jane Harper’s fourth novel. Harper’s other works of fiction include The Dry, Force of Nature, The Lost Man, and Exiles. Survivors was developed for the screen by Tony Ayres, best known as the creator of Nowhere Boys in 2013 and Stateless in 2020.
This murder mystery centers on Kieran Elliott (Charlie Vickers), the sole survivor of a tragedy in Tasmanian sea caves who returns to his hometown 15 years later only to get wrapped up in a murder mystery. Bridgerton‘s new leading lady, Yerin Ha, plays Kieran’s girlfriend, Mia Chang. The thriller also stars Shannon Berry (Winner), Robyn Malcolm (Outrageous Fortune), Catherine McClements (Apple Cider Vinegar), Jessica De Gouw (Ladies in Black), and Damien Garvey (The Artful Dodger). The Survivors currently boasts a 100% critical rating on Rotten Tomatoes.
3
‘We Were Liars’
Release Date: June 18
This highly anticipated 12-part mystery series on Amazon has been in the works for a while. Developed by frequent The CW collaborators Julie Plec (The Vampire Diaries) and Carina Adly Mackenzie (Roswell, New Mexico), We Were Liars is based on the acclaimed 2014 young adult psychological thriller by E. Lockhart. Set on an island near Martha’s Vineyard, We Were Liars follows teenage Cadence Sinclair Eastman as she returns to her family’s summer home two years after an incident that left her with memory loss.
Cadence is played by Emily Alyn Lind, known for her work in horror projects like The Babysitter and Doctor Sleep. Cadence is one of the four “liars” alongside Gat Patil (Shubham Maheshwari), Mirren Sinclair Sheffield (Esther McGregor), and Johnny Sinclair Dennis (Joseph Zada). The cast also includes Caitlin FitzGerald (Station Eleven), Mamie Gummer (True Detective), Candice King (The Vampire Diaries), Rahul Kohli (The Fall of the House of Usher), and David Morse (The Last Thing He Told Me).
2
‘Nine Perfect Strangers’ Season 2
Release Date: May 21
Nine Perfect Strangers debuted on Hulu in 2021. The series, created by David E. Kelley (Big Little Lies), stars Nicole Kidman (The Perfect Couple) as Masha Dmitrichenk, a wellness resort director who uses psychoactive drugs and other questionable techniques to help her clients cope with trauma. The first season was based on the 2018 Liane Moriarty novel of the same name, but with season 2 comes an original story with a whole new cast of characters.
Kidman returns as Masha, who is invited by her former mentor Helena (Lena Olin) to run a retreat at a resort in the Austrian Alps. The cast includes Annie Murphy (Schitt’s Creek), Henry Golding (Crazy Rich Asians), Dolly de Leon (Jackpot!), Aras Aydın (Aldatmak), Lucas Englander (Transatlantic), King Princess (Bottoms), Maisie Richardson-Sellers (Legends of Tomorrow), Mark Strong (Kingsman: The Secret Service), and Christine Baranski (The Gilded Age).
1
‘Butterfly’
Release Date: August 13
This Amazon spy thriller is a little different from the other titles on the list, all of which are based on novels. Butterfly is adapted from Arash Amel’s 2014 Boom! Studios’ graphic novel series of the same name. The show is produced by and stars Lost alum Daniel Dae Kim as former US intelligence agent David Jung, whose past has finally come back to haunt him.
The cast is rounded out by Piper Perabo (Yellowstone), Charles Parnell (Top Gun: Maverick), Kim Ji-hoon (Flower of Evil), Reina Hardesty (It’s What’s Inside), Kim Tae-hee (Lies Hidden in My Garden), Sung Dong-il (The Art of Negotiation), Lee Il-hwa (No Gain No Love), Louis Landau (The Serpent Queen), Sean Dulake (Dramaworld), and Seoyeon Jang (Good Partner).
Kim is incredibly excited about the project. “Butterfly is the realization of a longtime dream to bring together American and Korean storytellers and create a show that bridges two cultures that I love deeply,” the actor tells Deadline. At least the first six episodes are slated to release on Amazon in August.
This story originally appeared on Movieweb
