NO MORE BOOK

HOW SHOWRUNNERS ON BIG TV SERIES COPE WHEN THEY RUN OUT OF SOURCE MATERIAL

THE HANDMAID’S TALE

When Offred was carted off in the back of a van, season one ended roughly in the same way as Margaret Atwood’s original novel, and her sequel doesn’t arrive until later this year. So for Seasons 2 and 3, showrunner Bruce Miller asked Attwood to act as plot-consultant/co-writer with him. He thinks the show could go on for ten seasons.

GAME OF THRONES

Jon Snow died at the end of season 5, and that was pretty much how author George R.R. Martin left things in his fifth and, to date, last novel in the series. From then on it was up to show creators DB Weiss and David Benioff to steer the plot, albeit with Martin providing “some guidance”. So they resurrected Snow and the rest is (their) Westeros history.

BIG LITTLE LIES

Based on a hit standalone novel by Liane Moriarty, this was originally planned by HBO as a “limited series”, but such was its phenomenal success a second season was inevitable. For Season 2 they convinced Moriarty to come up with her own new story following up the lives of the core gang of women, on which showrunner David E. Kelley based his script.