There’s something oddly comforting about the young adult novel adaptation. Regardless of genre, there’s often an element of predictability to the stories and an effortless relatability to the characters that make for a satisfying viewing experience. But at a certain point, audiences of all ages were burnt out by the sheer volume of these adaptations coming out at once, especially those with a more dystopian flair: The Hunger Games, the Divergent series, The Maze Runner, among others.
Panic solves many of the complaints often wielded at adaptations of young adult novels. Not only did Oliver have a lot of authorial control in the writing and production of the adaptation, but the ten-episode format allows for a much richer (and more faithful) exploration of the novel’s themes and characters than a two-hour movie could. (Or if it’s like any adaptation from the 2010s: a series of two-hour movies—some of which had the gall to add a “part two” to their final installments to squeeze out as much plot, and cash, as possible).
