Apple TV Is Sleeping on This Award-Winning Post-Apocalyptic Sci-Fi Adaptation

From Heated Rivalry to The Vampire Lestat, some of the best shows on TV right now are adaptations of popular novels. Book adaptations often make excellent TV shows because they draw from existing material, but these shows also take beloved and compelling characters and bring their stories to life in new and exciting ways. Additionally, book adaptations already have set endings, so shows can unfold more naturally while building up to these conclusions.

One book that would be perfect for television is This Is How You Lose the Time War by Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone. The 2019 science fiction novella was originally optioned for television with scripts written by El-Mohtar and Gladstone, as revealed by El-Mohtar in 2021, but five years later, it still hasn’t received an adaptation. Any streaming service would be lucky to have a This Is How You Lose the Time War limited series, but it would be especially perfect for Apple TV, due to the streamer’s ongoing success with sci-fi.

What Is ‘This Is How You Lose the Time War’ About?

This Is How You Lose the Time War is a sci-fi novella that takes place in a post-apocalyptic future. Two organizations, called the Garden and the Agency, are at war with one another and have each sent agents to travel through different strands of time and manipulate the past in multiple different universes to produce their desired future outcomes. At the center of this story are two rival agents: Blue, who works for the Garden, and Red, who works for the Agency. The two women have crossed paths more times than they can count. They have never actually spoken to each other, but they regularly encounter each other at the same sites while completing opposing missions.

At the start of The Is How You Lose the Time War, Blue breaks their routine by writing a letter to Red. What starts as a simple acknowledgment of their repeated crossing of paths turns into a regular correspondence. At first, it’s a game in which the two write each other letters that are destroyed after reading, so that neither can be punished. In these letters, they both fill each other in about their very different lives, and they describe their assignments and brief moments of seeing one another. Soon, Blue and Red start to realize that these letters mean more to them than either intended, and they find themselves getting attached and even falling for each other. Their romance is forbidden because they are both fighting on opposing sides and would face brutal repercussions for even writing to each other. Still, when these letters become the most important thing to both Blue and Red, they start questioning their roles in the war at hand, including what they would be willing to sacrifice to keep their correspondence going.

‘This Is How You Lose the Time War’ Would Be the Perfect Addition to Apple TV’s Sci-Fi Lineup

Apple TV has previously had a great deal of success with sci-fi series that put a heavy focus on character, including Pluribus, Severance, Silo, Foundation, and For All Mankind. This Is How You Lose the Time War would fit perfectly into Apple TV’s existing sci-fi library because it explores deeper themes related to war, love, and duty. Blue and Red’s feelings for each other completely go against the very fundamentals of who they’re supposed to be in a way that is similar to the romances of Severance‘s Mark (Adam Scout) and Helly (Britt Lower), or Irving (John Turturro) and Burt (Christopher Walken). Like Pluribus‘ Carol (Rhea Seehorn) and Zosia (Karolina Wydra), Blue and Red have conflicting motivations, and one of them has to lose for the other to win.

This Is How You Lose the Time War is as much a romance as it is a work of science fiction; Blue and Red have both been conditioned to represent their organizations, and to do whatever it takes to come out on top at the end of this war. Through their letters and their growing love for each other, they both start to question their roles in this war and reconsider what their futures throughout the rest of this war might look like. An ideal adaptation would be a limited series that both fleshes out the intense conditions of the war and puts a focus on Blue and Red — both as separate characters and their dynamic with each other. Apple TV would be the perfect streaming platform for a potential adaptation, and This Is How You Lose the Time War is exactly the sort of heartfelt and suspenseful sci-fi story that would find an audience on the streamer.