The sci-fi TV and film adaptations we want to see

Brian Catling’s speculative, slightly mythological fiction concerns the probably-sentient eponymous forest, and the incredibly odd ensemble cast its mysteries attract. It was likely a big inspiration for Annihilation, and endures as a cult classic. The sheer weirdness, the vast expanse of the forest and the disjointed chronology conspire to make it seem an implausible adaptation. However, with its reputation and the riskier bets Netflix et al are taking, it could an incredible experiment.

The recently released novel begins as a slow-burning urban thriller set around the – shall we say inimitable – Shoreditch start up scene, and fast becomes more speculative and pastoral. It’s hugely accessible, hooking readers with a satirical yet familiar locale, features a kick-ass yet nuanced female protagonist and, without spoiling anything, taps hugely into the (post?) millennial zeitgeist.

One of, if not the, best known contemporary Japanese literary export, almost all of Haruki Murakami’s magical-realism novels would make delightfully weird small-screen adaptations. Perhaps the man himself has no desire to see the meandering pacing, creepy undercurrents, low-key urban locales and flights of surreal fancy that characterise his novels turned into visuals? It just seems hard to imagine that cats, urban fantasy and jazz loving protagonists wouldn’t go down a storm right now.

Heavily rumoured to be the target of a $1 billion Amazon deal, China’s premier hard sci-fi export could become a super-dense, philosophical and multi-series adaptation for real in the near future. This sprawling trilogy is essentially about an alien invasion – that humanity has 5,000 years advance notice of. The theoretical astrophysics, [MILD SPOILER] large jumps in chronology [MILD SPOILER ENDS] and long tracts of characters not doing much other than thinking in solitude don’t sound screenplay ready but if it does come to pass, this could blow things wide open.