When Fifty Shades of Grey rose to infamy, it was slammed for its depiction of romanticized unhealthy relationships, its wacky portrayal of BDSM, and, most laughably, the fact that it was once a piece of Twilight fanfiction. Despite its revisions and the years passed from fanfic to actual story, many could not let go of its origins, seeing the fictional Anastasia Steele and Christian Grey as the former and still fictional, Bella Swan and Edward Cullen. Even so, the Fifty Shades trilogy was brought to the big screen and skyrocketed the careers of its lead stars Dakota Johnson and Jamie Dornan, despite how objectively crummy the movie may be, thus proving that everything and everyone has to start somewhere.

To this day, stories once written as fanfiction, or specifically on the writing platform known as Wattpad, have become the source material for major movies and TV shows. While a large portion of today’s media seems to be adapted from previous material, stories have been taken from page to screen for a long period of time. Given that Wattpad tales are often altered into tangible novels, it’s no surprise they are added to the forever-growing list of book to film adaptations. As such, here’s a list of movies and TV shows based on Wattpad stories.

Updated October 11, 2022: If you love Wattpad stories, you’ll be happy to know we’ve updated this article with additional content and entries.

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7 After Series (2019-)

     Voltage Pictures

Anna Todd’s fanfiction After amassed a combined total of 1 billion amorous Wattpad readers eager to see what was in store in the disorderly yet addicting world of the toxic Tessa and Hardin. The stories were picked up by Simon & Schuster to become a bestselling series, which includes four books, one prequel, and two spin-off novels. Readers follow the journey of the virginal angel and the brooding Prince of Darkness from the day they meet in college to the future versions of themselves. In 2019, the first After movie premiered, followed by three sequels — including the recently released After Ever Happily — and a final film, After Everything, expected to release sometime in the future. Josephine Langford and Hero Fiennes Tiffin thoroughly brought life to the characters, embodying their fictional counterparts in a way that imitates perceiving the book in motion right before your eyes.

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6 Cupid’s Match (2018)

     The CW

Cupid’s Match gained more than 45 million reads on Wattpad and was later turned into a book by Lauren Palphreyman. The novel tells the story of Lila, a high schooler who uses Cupid’s Matchmaking Service in search of love, only to be matched up with Cupid himself. What appears to be a quintessential romance is actually a supernatural fantasy, with the protagonist entering a mythological world overflowing with actual Cupids and a magical god she finds herself falling for. Though it was turned into a TV show for CW Seed, the 2018 program only ran for one ten-minute episode.

5 The Kissing Booth Trilogy (2018-2021)

     Komixx Entertainment

In 2018, Netflix released The Kissing Booth with Joey King taking the lead role as the quirky, lovable Elle Evans. The high school rendezvous were originally written by a then-15-year-old Beth Reekles, who published chapter by chapter online. It gained over 19 million readers and won the 2011 award for Most Popular Teen Fiction on Wattpad. The Kissing Booth follows the classic “best friend’s brother” trope, with Elle falling for Noah (Jacob Elordi), the sibling to her especially codependent bestie/partner-in-crime/birthday twin/dance partner and more, Lee (Joel Courtney). The movies might not be considered magnum opuses of cinema, but, even so, each film accumulated groundbreaking ratings, with the first one being one of the most watched Netflix movies in the world.

4 Light as a Feather (2018-2019)

     AwesomenessTV

This chilling Hulu original series was described by Goodreads as Riverdale meets Final Destination. Zoe Arsen wrote the story of Light as Feather and acquired over 3 million views before the series was made, and currently, it’s up to almost 5 million. After a group of friends messes with a supernatural board game, brought upon them by the new girl Violet, they mysteriously begin dying one by one, exactly as Violet’s game predicted. The lead character McKenna grows suspicious and recruits her neighbor Trey to get to the bottom of everything. With names like Peyton List, Brianne Tju, and Brent Rivera, the show had many familiar faces, and was nominated for eight Daytime Emmy Awards. It debuted on the streaming service in 2018 and had a total of 26 episodes before going off the air.

3 Perfect Addiction (TBD)

     Lane Dorsey; Mega

Perfect Addiction by Claudia Tan follows 18-year-old Sienna whose perfect world is turned upside down when she discovers her boyfriend has been cheating on her with her sister. While still a romance, Perfect Addiction is a sports drama, as Sienna works in a local gym and soon comes face to face with Kayden, the moody boxer that her boyfriend famously defeated in the ring. Despite their ill feelings towards each other, the two team up and learn…maybe they don’t hate one another. The story earned 81 million reads online and won the People’s Choice Award at the Wattpad competition, The Wattys. Last year, an upcoming movie adaptation of the book was announced, set to star Ross Butler and Matthew Noska, with the lead role going to Kiana Madeira, who had also participated in the After series, along with director Castille Landon, who directed After’s last two films.

2 Turn On (2021)

     Vidio

Indonesian streaming platform Vidio has reportedly already greenlit a second season of this Wattpad drama series. Turn On is about an affluent tech executive who forms an unlikely bond with his employee, a girl next door struggling to make ends meet. The first season launched on Vidio in January 2021 and is the platform’s number one most-watched program of the year so far, reaching a record 10 million views. Fans are eager to see more with the newly announced second installment.

1 Through My Window (2022)

     Netflix

Originally published in Spanish, Ariana Godoy’s A Través de Mi Ventana, or Through My Window, earned a combined total of 400 million reads between its original language and the English adaptation. The story follows the Witch and the Greek God aka Raquel and the apple of her eye, Ares Hidalgo, a boy whom she literally stalked before becoming his girlfriend. For forever and a day, Raquel was head-over-heels for the boy next door and once she finds him using her WiFi password, she is finally given a chance to make her move. Little did Raquel know, however, that Ares had always returned those feelings, and with a little drama, passion and canoodling, their crushes turn into something more. The story was brought to Netflix in 2022, with two planned sequels set to be released in the near future.