The Best TV Shows Based on Movies

It’s not terribly often that a movie actually warrants a TV spinoff or retelling. Aside from franchises, sequels, trilogies, and the like, movies are generally made to tell a story from start to finish in a few hours or less. However, there are occasionally stories, characters, or premises that benefit from the additional time that television provides.

Television gives storytellers the ability to dive deeper into a characters’ psyche or explore an aspect of worldbuilding that could only be briefly touched upon in the limited runtime of a movie. It gives creatives more room to play in and craft compelling stories set in worlds familiar or brand new. Done right, a movie can be a great starting point for a television series, and so much more than an excuse to exploit IP for monetary gain.

The following TV series are some of the best out there, taking inspiration from a film and translating its themes, ideas, or characters into a story that still feels unique. From Buffy the Vampire Slayer to What We Do in the Shadows, here are the best TV shows based on movies.

Buffy the Vampire Slayer

It’s hard to imagine Buffy the Vampire Slayer without Sarah Michelle Gellar, which is probably part of why the movie that the series is based on doesn’t have quite the same pop-culture power as the TV series. While the movie is still a fun watch and has its merits, it doesn’t seem to quite have the same legacy as the series that came after. The series has been off the air for twenty years, and yet it still manages to find new fans eager to watch Buffy Summers (Gellar) fight vampires and demons all the while dealing with the trials and tribulations of high school.

A League of Their Own

A League of Their Own is a great movie about the formation of the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League, but the Prime Video series of the same name based on the movie is arguably even better. The show adds layers to this premise by diving deeper into issues of gender equality, queer identity, and racism that were prevalent in the time period. It’s a more intersectional approach that helps these women feel more real and relatable. We not only want to see the Rockford Peaches win the series, we also want to see Carson (Abbi Jacobson) find happiness with Greta (D’Arcy Carden). We want to see Max (Chanté Adams) find a team that truly appreciates her pitching skills. We want these women to be taken seriously as athletes. Even without the influence of the movie, A League of Their Own is an impeccable story in its own right, and a worthy underdog story worth watching.

High Fidelity

The woefully short-lived High Fidelity series takes the premise of the movie a step above, with characters that feel truly lived-in and realized. Zoë Kravitz brings a vulnerability to Rob that John Cusack’s version of the character in the film is lacking. Yes, she’s still messy and makes some questionable choices, but her vulnerability toward the audience makes her relatable. The TV show is so much more than just a gender-swapped remake of the film – it’s a heartfelt look at relationships and what it means to love and be loved by somebody.

Monarch: Legacy of Monsters

This Apple TV+ series finally takes the time to dig deep into the human side of the Godzilla monsterverse, and is all the better for it. As fun as it is to watch Godzilla, Kong, and other monsters fight each other, the lore woven into this universe is a lot more rich and interesting than the movies really get to explore amidst all of the city-destroying chaos. This series is all about family, and not just because real-life father and son Kurt and Wyatt Russell play the same character across time periods. We get to learn a lot about how Monarch began and how the mysteries the founding members uncovered have impacted both their families and the world at large for decades since. Monarch: Legacy of Monsters is a great companion to the movie franchise it’s based on, and helps this fictional world feel a lot richer and fuller.

Stargate: SG-1

The 1994 film Stargate inspired several spinoff series, the first of which is the classic early 2000s sci-fi series Stargate: SG-1. Now armed with an ancient portal that can transport people to planets across the galaxy, the U.S. Military in Stargate: SG-1 sets off to different planets almost every week to uncover secrets, learn more about the galaxy around them, and discover how to protect the Earth against potential threats. It’s a recipe for a great sci-fi television adventure, and boy did the series deliver for ten seasons. A show like this is like a relic of a forgotten time in the streaming era, but it’s still an incredible time.

Ted

You’d think that there’s only so far a story about a vulgar talking teddy bear could go, and yet Ted continues to be full of surprises. The prequel TV series based on the movies by Seth MacFarlane explores Ted’s friendship with John Bennett (Max Burkholder) during his high school days, and has a surprising amount of heart to it. Of course, there’s still plenty of pot smoking, porn-watching, cursing, and other adolescent shenanigans, but in addition to the hilarious hijinks we’ve come to expect from a Ted movie, we also get to see why Ted and John’s friendship has lasted so long and runs so deep.

Westworld

Created by Jonathan Nolan and Lisa Joy, the HBO series Westworld is several steps above the original 1973 film of the same name. Not only does the show capture the film’s eerie premise of a theme park taken over by the sentient robots that populate it, but it makes us feel for the Hosts as well. When so many of the “good guys” are rich assholes, it’s hard not to root for a robot uprising, at least a little bit. Westworld is a thought provoking take on consciousness and what it means to be human, making it more than just a ‘futuristic theme park gone wrong’ narrative.

What We Do in the Shadows

The movie What We Do in the Shadows is a cult classic for a reason. The mockumentary starring Taika Waititi and Jemaine Clement as vampires living in New Zealand is hilarious in its own right, and yet the TV series of the same name still finds new and unique ways of expanding upon this premise. Ancient vampires trying to live in the modern era is one thing, but putting together a house of some of the most inept and technologically-challenged vampires is a recipe for seasons of fun and hijinks.