The sheer amount of book adaptations that have already hit both the big and small screen so far in 2026 range from the swoony Emily Henry romance People We Meet On Vacation and the sci-fi hit Project Hail Mary, to Maggie Gyllenhaal’s divisive Frankenstein adaptation The Bride! and Emerald Fennel’s Wuthering Heights, which got pulses racing and book clubs reading the classic Emily Brontë novel.

At this rate, there are so many book adaptations coming out that it’s hard to know what’s worth watching. That’s where PW comes in.

Welcome to To Watch, or Not To Watch, PW’s new monthly series where members of our staff review upcoming movies and TV shows based on books—and determine what’s worth your precious screen time.

For April, The Handmaid’s Tale is back (but for teens), the live-action pirate anime One Piece returns to Netflix, and Margo’s Got Money Troubles doesn’t look like it’ll be a problem for Apple.

The Testaments (Hulu, weekly on Wednesdays)

I’ve reread Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale multiple times, well before Bruce Miller’s Hulu series was even a glimmer under—I mean in—his eye, and I appreciated the show as a distinct, if equally harrowing, piece of entertainment. By contrast, Atwood’s The Testaments left me cold, and that’s influenced my opinion of the new adaptation—for the better. Three episodes in, I don’t mind the apparent changes to major plot points, probably because my strongest memory of the book is a Katniss Everdeen–esque training montage (sure to resurface in the show, alas). Chase Infiniti’s star power is off the charts, and if the focus on teenage girls lends something of a Handmaid’s Tale x the WB (RIP) vibe, it’s a bit of nostalgia that matches the show’s signature needle drops, like the episode one–ending Cranberries anthem “Dreams.”

Verdict: Watch, with the caveat that if you couldn’t stomach the sadistic violence in The Handmaid’s Tale series, you’ll be eyes covered, volume down for some of this one, too. —Carolyn Juris, features editor

One Piece (Netflix, season two available now)

You can’t go to a comic convention without being surrounded by One Piece cosplayers, nor can you get very far on Reddit without running into fanart inspired by Eiichiro Oda’s pirate manga, which started way back in 1997. One Piece has already been turned into an ongoing manga and, more recently, has been taking the world of trading card games by storm. But even with all this cultural saturation, Netflix’s live-action adaptation continues to justify itself. To their credit, the cast and creators treat this less like a live-action remake of an animated classic (in the vein of those atrocious Disney movies) and more like a passionate adaptation of an epic comic book. By condensing Oda’s decades of dense plot into more digestible season arcs, bringing the huge cast of characters to new life with brilliant international casting, and finding their own ways to translate the action and scale these pirates are known for, Netflix’s One Piece should appeal equally to both fans of the franchise and newcomers who don’t (yet) know the difference between Devil Fruits. — Christian Holub, The Fanatic editor

Margo’s Got Money Troubles (Apple, weekly on Wednesdays)

Rufi Thorpe’s 2024 novel of the same name was a hilariously heartfelt look at Margo, a college student who ends up having an affair with her college professor and gets pregnant. As Margo faces the realities of being a single mother, she turns to OnlyFans to make money to support her newborn son. In the process, she reconnects with her ex–pro wrestler father and a roommate, who both help her develop her OnlyFans persona. The book was a lightning-fast read offering a smart look at the gig economy. Television royalty David E. Kelley adapted the novel with Elle Fanning starring as Margo, Nick Offerman as her father, and Michelle Pfeiffer as her mother. It’s not news that Fanning is a star, but her Margo is perfectly tailored to her talents in both the comedy of the role and tightwire emotional beats. Some small changes from the book streamline the plot better, focusing on Margo and her untraditional family. Aside from it actually getting OnlyFans, readers of Thorpe’s novel will be happy that the series retains all the heart of the novel. —Kerensa Cadenas, news director