There needs to be some level of adaption from a book or video game to the screen. It's a very difficult job to actually do well though, because it requires knowledge of the source material and knowledge of what works on the screen. People that can do this are rare and expensive.

Lately it's almost seemed like it's become a badge of honor to not actually know anything about the topic being adapted. It's not surprising that mindset is leading to failure.

I never understood why you would take a story loved by millions and then change it in unpredictable ways. You are losing the best advocates for what you're creating! The worst example of this is the horrendous monster that is the latest Terry Pratchett TV show, which was rightly condemned by the estate and everyone who ever read anything by Pratchett.

It's because executives hate art.

From 'House of the Dragon' to 'God of War' to 'The Witcher,' shows are getting smacked by creators for seeming to stray from source material. And there are reasons it's happening now.

Not sure what’s unfaithful about House of the Dragon. Are fans complaining? Honest question. GRRM is complaining he’s not listened to but given that the man hasn’t finished his books yet I think it’s best he’s undisturbed until then.

God of War didn’t come out so it can’t be judged as unfaithful, it just looks bad.

Witcher could be the best adaptation around and Sapkowski would still find a reason to be butthurt like he was butthurt about Witcher 3 continuing story from his books even though it’s better than anything he wrote since The Lady of the Lake.

Hollywood Reporter co-opted Rings of Power into this article too but unless Tolkien was reanimated it looks like a shoehorned argument. It’s like author wanted to dunk on things they don’t like and ran out of steam very quickly.

Either screen writers have narcissistic egos or the corpos on the top are telling them to change things.

If you are interested in the innards of an adaptation, rambling about old movies, and The Expanse, go watch/listen to Ty and That Guy. It is one of the authors of the series and one of the actors from the show going through it episode by episode talking about production, what doesn't work, why certain things changed, etc.

First there’s a reason which is perhaps obvious: Authors have a closer relationship with their fans — and a massive megaphone — thanks to social media. “Just the norms around how one performs being an author — especially with a strong fan base — that relationship has evolved a lot over the last two decades along with the way in which they can communicate and experience people reading their works,” she says.

But also, filmic storytelling itself has dramatically changed just in the last several years. The combination of audience fragmentation (where studios no longer need to draw the largest possible viewership on every show) and streaming services collectively serving up hundreds of long-form titles a year now allows these stories to be adapted with a level of specificity and loyalty to the source material that wasn’t realistic before.

I think the problem is less being unfaithful to the source material and more that many of these books are adapted in an industrial style complete with alienated workers who are completely detached to the finished product. If hundreds of professionals are doing what their boss says to do on a project they don't really care about, the end product tends to show the lack of effort and care. Any changes individual workers make to the film project that adapts it to the new medium is the only art to be found in a project otherwise fueled by cynicism and spite.

The thing about adaptations is that you can just enjoy the original book, or game or play or whatever that is actually good and became popular based on its own merits. Not to say there aren’t good adaptations, but you have to take it case by case there’s no way most of this stuff should sell just because of name recognition.

Do people hate God Of War tv because it too slavishly apes the look of the game, because there’s very little to go off there?