Kirkus is planning in-depth columns on Shadow and Bone, a new Netflix series (premiering April 23) based on Leigh Bardugo’s Grishaverse YA fantasy novels, and an upcoming Amazon Prime Video film of Tom Clancy’s bestselling thriller, Without Remorse (April 30), starring Creed’s Michael B. Jordan. In the meantime, here are four other intriguing adaptations hitting screens in the coming month:

April 1: Made for Love (Series Premiere, HBO Max)

Cristin Milioti, who was wonderful in last year’s Hulu time-loop comedy, Palm Springs, stars in this new series adaptation of Alissa Nutting’s 2017 novel, which has science-fiction elements of its own. Milioti plays Hazel Green, a woman married to a tech billionaire. In the book, her husband (played in the series by Tell Me a Story’s Billy Magnussen) has secretly implanted a chip in her brain that gives him instant access to all her thoughts; when she finds out, she tries to flee the relationship, but her spouse continues to track her. Meanwhile, Hazel’s father (Ray Romano in the show) has purchased a very lifelike sex doll, to which he’s become a little too attached. (There’s no sign in the trailer—or the cast list—of secondary character Jasper, a con artist who’s sexually attracted to dolphins, although that’s probably for the best.) The high-tech aspects of the tale call to mind the Netflix SF-anthology show Black Mirror, which makes it a perfect vehicle for Milioti; she memorably co-starred in “USS Callister,” a 2017 episode of that series.

April 2: Concrete Cowboy (Film Premiere, Netflix)

This movie version of G. Neri’s 2011 middle-grade novel, Ghetto Cowboy, stars Golden Globe and Independent Spirit Award winner Idris Elba as Harper, a modern-day Philadelphian who’s part of a community of urban cowboys, and Stranger Things’ Caleb McLaughlin as his son, Cole, who comes from another city to live with him after he gets into trouble at school. In the book, Cole, who’s never known his father, is skeptical about Harper’s work with horses and troubled youth, but he bonds with a steed named Boo and finds himself on a new path. The movie was filmed on location in Philadelphia, and Neri noted in the novel that his fictional tale was “inspired by the real life urban black horsemen of North Philadelphia and the Brooklyn-Queens area.” Kirkus’ reviewer said that the book provided “a fascinating glimpse of a culture most readers will not have heard of,” and the film may well do the same.

April 27: Here Are the Young Men (Film Premiere)

The casting of Anya Taylor-Joy will draw many viewers to this film of Rob Doyle’s 2015 novel, as she starred in two diverting adaptations last year: the movie Emma, based on the classic Jane Austen book, and the Netflix miniseries of Walter Tevis’ 1983 novel, The Queen’s Gambit. She’s a secondary player in this film, though, which focuses on, well, young men. Specifically, it concentrates on a group of Irish teenage boys—Kearney, Rez, Cocker, and Matthew—and their friend, Jen, who are all dedicated to getting drunk and abusing an array of drugs. But, as Kirkus’ review notes, “the young men’s mischief takes an inevitable uglier turn when Kearney’s beating of a junkie leads to worse.” The trailer has an interesting Trainspotting feel to it, but here’s hoping that Taylor-Joy gets more to do than her novelistic counterpart; our reviewer pointed out that “Doyle’s take on the angst and awkward bonding of young males is strong enough that it highlights how little he has on the female side, essentially one solid but unexplored character.”

April 29: Things Heard and Seen (Film Premiere, Netflix)

Elizabeth Brundage’s Kirkus-starred 2016 thriller, All Things Cease To Appear, provides the basis for this movie adaptation starring Oscar nominee Amanda Seyfried and Grantchester’s James Norton. In the novel, art-history professor George Clare comes home to find his wife, Catherine, murdered with an axe; their young daughter was in the house when the killing occurred. The family had only recently moved to the small town, and local authorities immediately suspect that George committed the crime. However, it turns out that the house itself has secrets—and possibly ghosts. Seyfried is a fine actor who knows her way around the horror genre; she co-starred in the well-regarded 2009 film Jennifer’s Body and appeared last year in the haunted-house thriller You Should Have Left, based on Daniel Kehlmann’s Kirkus-starred 2017 novel. Things Heard and Seen also has a promising creative team in writer/directors Shari Springer Berman and Robert Pulcini, who received an Oscar nomination for their adapted screenplay for the 2003 film American Splendor, based on Harvey Pekar’s comic-book series.

David Rapp is the senior Indie editor.