Netflix has kicked off Tally’s story with the sci-fi movie Uglies, but there’s only one way this character’s true ending is likely ever to make it to the screen. The 2024 movie is based on the first book in author Scott Westerfeld’s Uglies series, which has two direct sequels, Pretties and Specials, that will hopefully make it to Netflix as well one day. However, while Specials wrapped up Tally’s time as a protagonist, Westerfeld brought this character back for his spinoff novel series, thus continuing her story. Unfortunately, it seems unlikely that these will ever be adapted.
After Uglies, Pretties, and Specials took the YA book world by storm, Westerfeld continued his exploration of his dystopian world with Extras (2007), set a few years after Tally successfully spreads the Pretty-head cure around the world. While Tally is no longer the POV character, she, Shay, and David make an extended appearance. Then, in 2018, Westerfeld began publishing his Imposters series, set about 20 years after Specials. These four books again follow a new protagonist, but in the final installment, Youngbloods, Tally appears again.
Netflix Would Have To Make 8 Movies To Finish Tally’s Uglies Story
The Story In Uglies Extends Far Beyond Tally (But She Is Still Involved)
The sequels to the Uglies series reveal that Tally, who was turned into one of Dr. Cable’s supersoldiers in Specials, escapes into the wild following the spread of the cure (along with David) with the primary goal of protecting nature from the awakening of humanity. Extras and the Imposters series see this through, and each time that Tally appears, it’s with the intention of protecting the planet from greed and war. This gets all the more extreme in the final book of Imposters, Youngbloods when Tally is forced to use nuclear weapons to stop AI from taking over the world (thus becoming a war criminal herself).
There is currently no confirmation that Netflix will adapt
Pretties
into a movie.
Of course, all of this is a long way off from the events of Netflix’s Uglies. In order for Joey King’s version of Tally to ever get her ending on screen, a total of eight movies would have to be adapted—and that doesn’t seem likely. Uglies has been a fair success on Netflix, claiming the top spot for movies in the US, but an eight-film sci-fi series would be an expensive endeavor, especially since Westerfeld’s spinoff books were never as well known as Uglies. Still, there is a way these stories might be adapted one day.
An Uglies TV Show Would Be The Only Way To Fully Adapt Scott Westerfeld’s Books
An Extended Animated Series Would Be Perfect
With the Uglies movie finally released, it can certainly be hoped that Pretties and Specials will be adapted one day. However, the stories in Extras, Imposters, Shatter City, Mirror’s Edge, and Youngbloods might be better suited to a TV show. The Imposters series, especially, is very politically aimed since it focuses on a far more traditional dystopian society (since the Pretty lesions have been gone for 20 years and people have returned to hoarding wealth). With so much to explore, the longer format of a TV show could be the best way to proceed.
If Pretties and Specials perform well enough, then maybe Netflix would greenlight an animated TV show as a continued adaptation of Westerfeld’s work.
Still, a live-action TV show may still be too much of a financial risk, so Netflix could take a route that it has already hashed out with past originals—an animated series. The streaming company has done something similar with The Witcher franchise to excellent effect, so it’s not out of the realm of possibility. Of course, such a thing would depend on the success of any future Uglies sequel movies. If Pretties and Specials perform well enough, then maybe Netflix would greenlight an animated TV show as a continued adaptation of Westerfeld’s work. Then, Tally’s full ending (and perhaps even more) could grace small screens.
