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.
Collider Exclusive · Sci-Fi Survival Quiz Which Sci-Fi World Would You Survive? The Matrix · Mad Max · Blade Runner · Dune · Star Wars
Five universes. Five completely different ways the future went wrong — or sideways, or up in flames. Only one of them is the world your instincts were built for. Eight questions will figure out which dystopia, galaxy, or desert wasteland you’d actually make it out of alive.
💊The Matrix
🔥Mad Max
🌧️Blade Runner
🏜️Dune
🚀Star Wars
01
You sense something is deeply wrong with the world around you. What do you do? The first instinct is often the truest one.
02
In a world of scarcity, what resource do you guard most fiercely? What we protect reveals what we believe survival actually requires.
03
What kind of threat keeps you up at night? Fear is useful data — if you’re honest about what you’re actually afraid of.
04
How do you deal with authority you don’t trust? Every dystopia has a power structure. Your approach to it determines everything.
05
Which environment could you actually endure long-term? Survival isn’t just tactical — it’s physical, psychological, and very much about where you are.
06
Who do you want in your corner when things fall apart? The company you keep is the clearest signal of who you actually are.
07
Where do you draw the line — if you draw one at all? Every survivor eventually faces a moment that tests what they’re actually made of.
08
What would actually make survival worth it? Staying alive is one thing. Having a reason to is another.
Your Fate Has Been Calculated You’d Survive In…
Your answers point to the world your instincts were built for. This is the universe your temperament, your survival instincts, and your particular brand of stubbornness were made for.
The Resistance, Zion
The Matrix
You took the red pill a long time ago — probably before anyone offered it to you. You’re a systems thinker who can’t help but notice the seams in things.
You’re drawn to understanding how the system works before figuring out how to break it.
You’d find the Resistance, or it would find you — your instinct for spotting constructed realities is the machines’ worst nightmare.
You function best when you have access to information and the freedom to act on it.
The Matrix built an airtight prison. You’d be the one probing the walls for the door.
The Wasteland
Mad Max
The wasteland doesn’t reward the clever or the well-connected — it rewards those who are hard to kill and harder to break. That’s you.
You don’t need comfort, community, or a cause larger than the next horizon.
You need a vehicle, a clear threat, and enough fuel to outrun it — and you’re good at all three.
You are unsentimental enough to survive that world, and decent enough — just barely — to be something more than another raider.
In the wasteland, that distinction is everything.
Los Angeles, 2049
Blade Runner
You’d survive here because you know how to exist in moral grey areas without losing yourself completely.
You read people accurately, keep your circle small, and ask the questions others prefer not to answer.
In a city where humanity is a legal designation rather than a feeling, you hold onto something that keeps you functional.
You’re not a hero. But you’re not lost, either.
In Blade Runner’s world, that distinction is everything.
Arrakis
Dune
Arrakis is the most hostile environment in the known universe — and you are precisely the kind of person it rewards.
Patience, discipline, and political awareness are your core strengths — and on Arrakis, they’re survival tools.
You understand that the long game matters more than any single victory.
Others come to Dune and are consumed by it. You’d learn its logic and earn its respect.
In time, you wouldn’t just survive Arrakis — you’d begin to reshape it.
A Galaxy Far, Far Away
Star Wars
The galaxy far, far away is vast, loud, and in a constant state of violent political upheaval — and you wouldn’t have it any other way.
You find meaning in being part of something larger than yourself — a cause, a crew, a rebellion.
You’d gravitate toward the Rebellion, or the fringes, or whatever pocket of the galaxy still believes the Empire’s grip can be broken.
You fight — not because you have to, but because standing aside isn’t something you’re capable of.
In Star Wars, that willingness is what makes all the difference.
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.
