7 of the Best LGBTQ Book-to-Screen Adaptations You Need to Watch

Adaptation: Brokeback Mountain (film, 2005)

Brokeback Mountain should have won the Academy Award in 2006 over Crash. That has become part of this film’s legacy. But let’s talk about why. Ang Lee’s film adaptation expands Annie Proulx’s short story while staying true to the source material’s quiet emotional depth. As Ennis and Jack, Heath Ledger and Jake Gyllenhaal share an electric chemistry, and their melancholic longing feels fully earned. Beyond romance, the film explores marital struggles, toxic masculinity, and the heavy toll of hiding in the shadows. This deeply moving narrative forever remains an iconic moment in queer cinema. I wish I knew how to quit you. —Emily Martin

Adaptation: The Handmaiden (film, 2016)

I enjoyed the BBC adaptation of Fingersmith, but Park Chan-Wook’s version is on another level. It relocates this twisty sapphic historical thriller from Victorian England to Japan-occupied Korea. The cinematography is gorgeous, and the acting is incredible—The Handmaiden‘s long list of accolades speaks for itself—but it’s the ending that stuck with me. It diverges from the novel in a complementary way; I feel like these two versions of the story are in conversation with each other. It speaks to the skill of this film that it can so dramatically change a story I love and still be one of my favourite adaptations. –Danika Ellis

Adaptation: Heartstopper (TV series, Netflix, 2022)

Dare I say?: Heartstopper is the perfect adaptation. (In fact, the Emmy Award-winning first season has 100% on Rotten Tomatoes.) This webcomic-turned-graphic novel series was adapted by a team whose love for the source material shines. At the heart of that is Alice Oseman themselves, who wrote every episode and the movie. The Heartstopper TV show is able to keep the iconic moments from the comics—often a panel-by-panel reenactment—and expand on the stories of side characters. The queer joy and community of Heartstopper has been life-changing for so many fans, and it’s bittersweet to see Nick and Charlie’s story conclude this year. —Danika Ellis

Adaptation: Heated Rivalry (TV series, Crave, 2025)

From Rachel Reid’s Game Changers series, Heated Rivalry is the breakout Canadian TV show written and directed by Jacob Tierney. The show follows queer hockey players building community and romantic relationships in league that is historically antagonistic toward the queer community. Tierney respects the romance genre and Reid as a talented author by painstakingly highlighting the emotional core of the series, as well as the talent of the cast and crew, in the best romance adaptation I have ever seen. Heated Rivalry’s success ultimately demonstrates that audiences want authentic queer stories, new talent, and limited studio interference. —R. Nassor

Adaptation: Nimona (TV series, Netflix, 2023)

I’ve never seen a graphic novel so perfectly captured in animation as Nimona. I started reading Nimona when it was still being published as a web comic, so it holds a very special place in my heart, and the movie captured the quirky style, humorous and heartfelt antics, and medieval-meets-science-fantasy vibe perfectly. The fact that it’s so rare to see queer characters in feature-length animation makes this adaptation all the more special. —Rachel Brittain

Adaptation: I Am Not Your Negro (documentary film, 2016)

The book that would become the basis for 2016’s I Am Not Your Negro was not really a book at all. Instead, Remember This House was a 30-page unfinished manuscript that James Baldwin had been working on when he passed away. It was meant to be a memoir through which he revisited his experiences with three of the Civil Rights Movement’s biggest leaders. The resulting work that came from director Raoul Peck gaining access to Baldwin’s unfinished book was a medley of things that included everything from speech excerpts to clippings from an FBI file on Baldwin that feels like it achieved what the legendary writer had envisioned. —Erica Ezeifedi

Adaptation: Carol (film, 2015)

Patricia Highsmith’s The Price of Salt became an instant classic of lesbian literature in 1952. It was the first pulp novel to show two women falling in love and getting a relatively happy ending (emphasis on “relatively”). Highsmith’s publisher refused to publish the book, and she released it under a pseudonym after her agent warned that the story was “career suicide.” Instead, it developed a cult following. A whole new generation became obsessed with this forbidden love story with director Todd Haynes’ elegant film adaptation. Rooney Mara’s sapphic yearning for the devastatingly beautiful Cate Blanchett over the toy counter at a 1950s department store has become required viewing for any lesbian Christmas fête. —Susie Dumond