Noah Romsdal Hallundbæk Sørensen
Some of Apple TV+’s most acclaimed originals aren’t just great television.
Apple TV has built a reputation for bold, inventive programming, yet several of its standout titles trace back to books that many viewers never realized were there.
Behind familiar dramas, thrillers, and sci-fi hits sit novels that quietly shaped the stories now streaming worldwide.
These productions span genres, but all share a similar twist, the source material is sometimes well-known, sometimes obscure, and occasionally only a loose influence.
Shantaram’s journey
Before debuting on Apple TV, Shantaram arrived with high expectations.
The series, led by Charlie Hunnam, drew from Gregory David Roberts’ bestselling novel about an Australian bank robber who escapes prison and rebuilds his life in India.
The adaptation followed the book’s trajectory but offered its own interpretation of Roberts’ narrative.
According to reporting from Screen Rant, critics felt the show captured the tone but struggled to achieve the novel’s emotional scale.
Despite its ambitious scope, it earned mixed reviews and modest viewership, prompting Apple TV to cancel it after one season.
Courtroom pressure
Defending Jacob often appears to mirror true-crime storytelling thanks to its bleak depiction of legal turmoil.
The series, however, is grounded in William Landay’s novel, which examines a prosecutor whose teenage son is accused of murder.
The show echoes the book’s tension, exploring whether the boy could be guilty before leading viewers toward a more complicated revelation.
Screen Rant noted that the adaptation, starring Chris Evans, received praise for its performances but never reached the mainstream popularity of other streaming crime dramas.
tech fears
Critics embraced Sunny as one of Apple TV’s sharpest sci-fi entries, applauding its restrained approach to AI anxiety. While packed with original elements, the show loosely draws from Colin O’Sullivan’s The Dark Manual.
Rather than using the novel’s title, the series incorporates it as a fictional banned book. Despite its strong reviews and Rashida Jones’ performance, Screen Rant reported the series was canceled after one season.
shifting endings
Carl Hiaasen’s novel forms the backbone of the crime comedy Bad Monkey. Apple’s version followed the book closely until a major late-story alteration, a move that divided readers familiar with the original plot.
Even with that controversy, the show earned a 92% Rotten Tomatoes score and was renewed for a second season, Screen Rant stated.
prison truths
Marketed as true crime, Black Bird actually relies heavily on James Keene’s memoir In with the Devil: a Fallen Hero, a Serial Killer, and a Dangerous Bargain for Redemption.
While dramatized, the miniseries reflects Keene’s harrowing undercover effort to extract a confession from serial offender Larry Hall.
Screen Rant noted that the performances by Taron Egerton and Paul Walter Hauser were widely praised, helping solidify the show as one of Apple TV’s strongest literary adaptations.
Sources: Screenrant
