Adaptation Relationship Overhauls in Live-Action TV series.
The following have their own pages:
- In Animorphs, Tobias (who's already pretty different than his book counterpart) only meets the others right before Elfangor shows up; this even leads to a short subplot where the others comment that they don't really know him enough to necessarily trust him. In the books, he was an acquaintance of Jake's after being saved by him from bullies, with a few hints that he may have known Rachel as well.
- The Boys (2019): The team is more dysfunctional than the cohesive unit they were in the comic, particularly MM and Frenchie.
- Brave New World: In the book, Lenina hits on John but he rejects this because he only wants to have a more serious relationship (which is foreign to her, as the society she grew up in outright discourages monogamy). Here, they not only have sex but also get into a more serious relationship, which Lenina wants too.
- Elementary:
- Traditionally Sherlock Holmes meets John Watson when he needs a roommate. In Elementary Sherlock and Joan meet when she becomes his sober companion, making their relationship more intimate. However, Watson is not Promoted to Love Interest; She and Sherlock are Platonic Life-Partners.
- Irene Adler secretly being this adaptation's incarnation of Moriarty completely changes their relationship with Sherlock and Watson.
- The Expanse:
- The initial relationship between Earth and Mars (prior to the war breaking out between them) is changed, with them already engaged in a Space Cold War at the start of the story instead of the (uneasy) alliance they were in in the books.
- In the books, Nancy Gao is a political ally of Chrisjen Avasarala, who was apparently instrumental in her replacing Esteban Sorrento-Gillis as UN Secretary-General. In the series, it was Avasarala whom Gao ran against for the position (Sorrento-Gillis having resigned following the Earth-Mars war), and she ran a somewhat dirty campaign against Gao, which didn't endear the two to each other. This has severe consequences later, as Avasarala learns of Marco Inaros' impending attack against Earth and tries to warn Gao about it, but she's blocked at every turn — and by the time she finally manages to reach her, it's already too late. As a result, millions of innocent people die, including both Gao herself and Avasarala's husband Arjun.
- Jupiter's Legacy: Raikou has never even met Walter in the comics (though she figured out he's her birth father). Here, they're not only in contact but have some kind of relationship. Walter also indicates he was with her mother for a time, whereas in the comics she was just seduced by him once.
- The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power:
- Sauron and Galadriel in the books were always just enemies, as she distrusted him from the moment she met him for the first time in Eregion, but in the show, they have a quasi-romantic friendship mostly because Galadriel has no idea that Sauron is Halbrand.
- Unlike in the show, in J.R.R. Tolkien's Middle-earth legendarium, Elrond and Durin were not friends. There is no mention of any particular friendship between Elrond and any of the Durins. Elrond lived for a while in Lindon and then decided to establish his own realm in Imladris. At most he foresaw the alliance between the Elves of Rivendell and Dwarves of Moria, Durin's folk.
- Elrond and Celebrimbor have a master-apprentice relationship in the show. However, there is no direct meeting between Elrond and Celebrimbor in the books. Celebrimbor worked closely with the Elven-smiths of Eregion, to create the Rings of Power, whereas Elrond lived mostly in Lindon in same time period, establishing a refuge for Elves who fled from the wars in the East. Elrond did not participate in the making of the Rings, like in the show.
- Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries: In the books, Phryne's (most recurrent) love interest is Lin Chung. He gets married later into the books and continues to be friends with Phryne. In the show, after he gets married neither he nor his wife reappear, and Phryne instead has Unresolved Sexual Tension with Inspector Robinson, who is much older in the books and only has a professional relationship with her.
- One Piece (2023):
- In the manga, Usopp and Kaya are Implied Love Interests at best, but for the most part seem to be Just Friends. In this show, their relationship is a lot more explicitly romantic, with Kaya even giving Usopp a goodbye kiss as he leaves to join the Straw Hats.
- Sham and Buchi are very close in the manga, while in this show, they absolutely can't stand each other, though there are some implications to a Vitriolic Best Buds type of relationship.
- In the manga, Nojiko is Nami's only confidant in Cocoyashi Village due to (seemingly) being the only person who knows about Nami's plan to work for the Arlong Pirates until she's raised enough money to buy the village from them. In this show, Nojiko isn't aware of Nami's plan, resulting in her hating Nami due to believing she's betrayed the village and Belle-Mère's memory, and doesn't learn the truth until much later.
- The Outer Limits (1995): There are two related examples in "I, Robot". Nina Link is Dr. Charles Link's niece in the 1964 version of "I, Robot" while Mina Link is Dr. Link's daughter in the 1995 version. Nina does not have much of a relationship with the robot Adam Link in the former but Mina thinks of Adam as being like her brother in the latter.
- Powerpuff:
- In the original series, the girls had a close-knit relationship with Professor Utonium despite calling him "Professor". Here, despite openly calling Drake "Dad", they're much more distant towards him thanks to his Stage Mom behavior.
- Rather than knowing each other as acquaintances, Drake and Sara dated for nine years before breaking up. As a result, Sara also served as a surrogate mother/sister figure to the girls. She also has no connection to either of the shown mayors of Townsville.
- While the Rowdy Rough Boys were still made as a deliberate counterpart to the girls, there is no mention of Mojo having created them.
- Drake and Mojo were lab partners and co-created the girls together, rather than a researcher and his pet/assistant.
- Happens very often with Power Rangers in regards to its source material Super Sentai:
- In Power Rangers Lost Galaxy Kegler is Villamax's long-time friend and companion who is loyal to him to no end, their Seijuu Sentai Gingaman counterparts, Bucrates and Sambash respectively, were definitely not friends on that level as Sambash was barely tolerated by the other members of Balban and besides listening to Bucrates' advice, was at odds with the old man.
- Urara/MagiBlue and Hikaru/MagiShine got married and became an Official Couple near the end of Mahou Sentai Magiranger, their Power Rangers Mystic Force counterparts, Madison/Blue Mystic Ranger and Daggeron/Solaris Ranger did not get married nor even get romantically involved with each other as Madison instead gets together with Nick/Red Mystic Ranger (since the Rangers here, except for Vida and Madison who are sisters, aren't siblings like in Magiranger).
- Riverdale:
- In the comics, Jason and Cheryl bicker like is common for siblings. In Riverdale, they're toned down and much more friendly, though it's unknown if their relationship is as 'friendly' as they are in Afterlife with Archie. Cheryl outright considers Jason to be her soulmate.
- Traditionally Archie and Betty are childhood friends, Veronica moves into town, Cheryl moves in later, and last is Kevin moving in. Cheryl and Kevin already live in Riverdale when Veronica comes along.
- In the show, Jughead and Betty are romantically involved, but in the comics they were Platonic Life-Partners at best, due to Betty's love for Archie and Jughead's lack of interest in romance.
- She's Gotta Have It: Nola and Opal were just friends in the film, although Opal's into more than that. Here, she's a past lover of Nola's, and they're Friends with Benefits then briefly date again.
- Station Eleven: In the book, Kirsten and Jeevan meet only briefly at the start of the pandemic. The show makes them one of the central relationships: Jeevan takes Kirsten in and they ride out the first months of the end of the world together. Twenty years later, Kirsten remains greatly shaped by her time with him and their Big Damn Reunion in the finale Bookends the show.
- In the Takeshi Kovacs novels Quelcrist Falconer was vaporized a couple centuries before Kovacs was born. In Netflix's adaptation of Altered Carbon he was part of her revolution and her lover. Also, Reileen is changed from just some mobster who hired Kovacs once and recommended him to Bancroft, to his sister who has a semi-incestuous obsession with him.
- The Umbrella Academy (2019): The members of the titular academy are considerably more functional and affectionate than their comic book counterparts.
- The Walking Dead (2010) makes significant changes to characters and their relationships in order to make the show's story distinct from the comic's story. For example, Andrea in the comics is in a relationship with Dale before moving on to Rick. In the show, Andrea gets involved with Shane, and later shows interest in the Governor, with Michonne getting with Rick instead.
- The Wheel of Time:
- Rand and Egwene were chaste childhood sweethearts in the books, but in the show they sleep together, which categorically did not happen in the books. It also doesn't seem like a new thing, and thus implies they've had sex before too.
- In the books, Moiraine and her best friend Siuan Sanche did occasionally share a bed in their Novice years, but nobody saw it as anything serious. Twenty years later, there's nothing sexual in their friendship. Here, they are still passionate lovers.
- Love Triangle: Rand-Egwene-Perrin. The latter did not reveal anything, though, and quietly stepped aside when Egwene chose Rand.
- Nynaeve goes to bed with Lan before the upcoming battle in which they might die. This does not happen in the books.
- Rand and Selene have an ongoing full-blown sexual relationship while Selene (who is really Lanfear, one of the most dangerous Forsaken) is posing as a harmless innkeeper. In the books, Selene flirted with Rand and he found her attractive before she proved to be Lanfear (she was instead posing as a young adventuress seeking the Horn of Valere), but her deception didn't last long enough to get the point of them going to bed together.
