The Greatest Book Adaptation No One Is Talking About Is Now on Streaming

With a story as classic as The Count of Monte Cristo, the 1846 French adventure novel by Alexandre Dumas, repurposing the text in any shape or form seems like a dried-up well. Dumas' book, which has been adapted for various media over the last 100 years, from short serials to episodic series, is a formative epic that laid the groundwork for all modern narrative arcs and themes. All future movies, shows, or books crib from Monte Cristo one way or another, either implicitly or explicitly, as the story's ruminations on hope, justice, vengeance, and rehabilitation prevail across all genres. In 2024, a new adaptation of the book, also titled The Count of Monte Cristo, was released to the public with little fanfare. In America, the eight-episode miniseries, directed by Bille August and starring Sam Claflinas the protagonist, Edmond Dantès, might as well have been nonexistent, as it was initially only released in Europe. Thanks to a new release by PBS's Masterpiece and its rising presence on Apple TV's charts, the revamped look at a timeless saga has now finally landed on everyone's radar.