14 movies and TV shows you didn't know had roots in fan fiction

While not technically "fan fiction" posted on a website, "The Idea of You" is a novel that was inspired by One Direction and Styles, subbing in August Moon and Hayes Campbell. In it, a 40-year-old divorced mom, Solène, takes her 15-year-old daughter Izzy to Coachella to see August Moon perform, and against all odds, falls in love with 24-year-old Hayes.

"A few years ago, my husband was away on business and I was up late surfing music videos on YouTube when I came across the face of a boy I'd never seen in a band I'd never paid attention to, and it was so aesthetically perfect it took me by surprise. It was like art," author Robinne Lee said in 2017. "I spent a good hour or so Googling and trying to figure out who this kid [Styles] was and in doing so I discovered that he often dated older women, and so the seed was planted."

In 2020, when Vogue asked Lee if Styles inspired Hayes, she said, "Inspired is a strong word."

The movie was released in 2024 and starred Hathaway as Sophie (Solène in the book), Galitzine as Hayes, and Ella Rubin as Izzy.

Inserting famous people into alternate situations — commonly called "AU" or alternate universe in the fan-fiction community — is a huge part of fan-fiction writing. The "After" movie series is an adaptation of novels written by Anna Todd, which were originally imagined as Styles and the rest of the members of One Direction attending college.

The story was posted on Wattpad, one of the most popular fan-fiction and webnovel websites, where creators can self-publish their work.

The characters' names had to be changed before the novels were published, but the changes aren't exactly subtle. Harry Styles became Hardin Scott, Zayn became Zed, Liam became Landon, Niall became Nate, and Louis became Logan.

In the movies — there are five — Hardin is played by Hero Fiennes Tiffin, Zed is played by Samuel Larsen, and Shane Paul McGhie plays Landon.

Yes, "The Love Hypothesis" was originally an AU story about Rey and Kylo Ren from the latest "Star Wars" trilogy, played by Daisy Ridley and Adam Driver, commonly known as "Reylo." In fact, the main love interest in "Love Hypothesis" novel version is named Adam, a nod to his roots.

The AU of "Love Hypothesis" is about Olive (Rey), a PhD student who, in typical rom-com form, begins fake-dating the most hated professor at her university, Adam (Kylo). Other characters are based on "Star Wars" characters as well, including Anh (Rose Tico), Malcolm (Finn), Holden (Poe), and Jeremy (Hux).

Author Ali Hazelwood is open about her love of fan fiction. When asked by Collider about her favorite tropes, she said, "Enemies-to-lovers. Reylo forever."

In a fun bit of casting, Adam will be played by Tom Bateman, none other than the real-life husband of Olive's inspiration, Ridley. Olive herself will be played by Lili Reinhart, while Anh will be played by Rachel Marsh, Malcolm will be Jaboukie Young-White, and Jeremy will be Nicholas Duvernay.

Especially in the first "Fifty Shades" novel, written by E. L. James, and its adaptation, it's not hard to see the resemblance between its plot and the first "Twilight" book — Edward Cullen is a mysterious, brooding, rich, and handsome vampire, and Christian Grey is a mysterious, brooding, rich, and handsome business magnate. Bella and Ana are both shy, secretly pretty, innocent young women who are inexplicably drawn to these loners.

James began posting her story, originally titled "Masters of the Universe," to fanfiction.net, but it was taken down for being too explicit. She then started her own website, which eventually led to her getting a book deal, and then the movies.

"I was inspired by ['Twilight' author] Stephenie Meyer ... she just kind of flipped this switch in my head," James told ABC in 2012.

"Gabriel's Inferno," which was released on Passionflix in 2020, is based on the fanfic "The University of Edward Masen," with Edward Masen being the "human" name of vampire Edward Cullen. It was written by an anonymous author under the name Sylvain Reynard.

In this reimagining of the story, Edward (or Gabriel, in the novel and movie) is a brooding — shocker — professor at a university, while Bella (or Julianne) is his shy student. Like in "Twilight," the two feel inexplicably connected to each other.

In the film adaptation, Gabriel is played by Giulio Berruti, and Julianne is played by Melanie Zanetti.

Overall, the plot of the "Mortal Instruments" series — which, essentially, is about monster hunters — isn't that similar to Clare's "Harry Potter" fan-fiction series called "The Draco Trilogy."

But, there's no denying that Clare was inspired by her previous work, which was huge in the "Potter" fandom. There are certain passages or lines in the first "Mortal Instruments" novel, "City of Bones," that come directly from Clare's fan fiction, The Daily Dot reported.

Clare, for her part, wrote on her Tumblr that "'The Mortal Instruments' was not a 'Harry Potter' fanfiction."

"The Kissing Booth" was written by Beth Reekles when she was just 15 years old. She began by posting the story of Elle, her best friend Lee, and Lee's hot (yet moody) older brother Noah, weekly, chapter by chapter, on Wattpad — the site also hosts original fiction, in addition to stories based on existing characters.

The series proved to be immensely popular, and almost immediately, she was offered a publishing deal — it was published by Random House in 2012. The movies were optioned by Netflix, per The Hollywood Reporter.

All three "Kissing Booth" movies, while popular, were demolished by critics and viewers alike, but they attracted a cast of talented young actors like Joey King, Jacob Elordi, Joel Courtney, and Taylor Zakhar Perez.

"My Life with the Walter Boys," which recently wrapped its second season on Netflix, was originally a Wattpad novel written by 15-year-old Ali Novak in 2010. In one interview with blog Wild Mind Writers, she said her cumulative work had been viewed over 150 million times.

Like "The Kissing Booth," "Walter Boys" isn't based on IP, and is instead an original story about a teenage girl, Jackie, who is sent to live with distant family friends after the death of her parents. The family friends turn out to be the Walters — one mom and 12 sons.

In the show, it's changed to seven sons, one daughter, and two parents, to make it a bit more realistic. But the love triangle between Jackie and two of the Walter boys remains intact.

The Prime Video films "My Fault" (2023), "Your Fault" (2024), and the upcoming "Our Fault," as well as the English remake, "My Fault: London" (2025), are based on a trilogy published on Wattpad known as "The Culpables Saga."

The saga was written by Mercedes Ron and first posted on the site in 2015. It was published as a physical novel in 2017.

The story follows the teenage Noah, who moves with her mother to her new stepfather's home — he's a billionaire, so the house is amazing (that's a big plot point).

Also there? Her new stepbrother, Nick.

"Cupid's Match" puts forth a world where Roman mythology is real, and their god of love, Cupid, is a real person. In the story, Cupid, after getting banished, is matched with a mortal woman named Lila … and the "Cupids" who took over after the big guy was banished aren't happy about it.

The LE Palphreyman series was originally posted on Wattpad and then adapted by CW Seed for a potential series, though only a pilot was produced, which you can watch for free on YouTube.

"Light as a Feather," written by Zoe Aarsen, was posted on Wattpad after the author joined the website back in 2012 because she was specifically attracted to the idea of self-publishing.

"Wattpad seemed like a great way to build an audience," Aarsen told Forbes in 2018. "When I posted chapters for the first time, I became really excited by receiving feedback from readers all over the world, and so quickly!"

Both the original story and the TV series are a mix of "The Craft" and "I Know What You Did Last Summer." It follows a group of friends as they play the classic sleepover game "Light as a Feather, Stiff as a Board," but when each game player starts dying mysteriously, the survivors must work together to figure out what's happening.

"Light as a Feather" aired on Hulu for two seasons from 2018 to 2019.

"Perfect Addiction" isn't based on pre-existing characters, but like other adaptations on this list, it was originally posted on Wattpad. It was written by Claudia Tan, who was just 17 at the time.

The original story and the movie focused on boxing trainer Sienna Lane, who finds out that her star client (and boyfriend!), Jax, is cheating on her with her sister. In a classic "don't get mad, get even" plot, Sienna decides to ditch Jax and train his biggest rival, Kayden, to take him down once and for all.

In the 2023 film, Kiana Madeira played Sienna, Ross Butler played Kayden, and Matthew Noszka played Jax.

The novel "Alchemised" by SenLinYu, which will be published on September 23, was originally the hugely popular fic "Manacled," which combined the characters of "Harry Potter" (specifically Draco and Hermione) with the dark world of "The Handmaid's Tale."

It was originally published on the fanfic website AO3 (Archive of Our Own).

Just days before "Alchemised" is officially published, now starring new characters in a new fictional world, The Hollywood Reporter wrote that the film rights had been acquired by Legendary Pictures with a payout that "exceeded $3 million," according to one source. Another source said it may be "one of the highest sums for a book's movie rights, not accounting for inflation."

In other words, fanfic is here to stay.