Truly, it feels like a generation since we last had the great new YA sci-fi franchise. Hollywood has spent years trying to replicate the success, appeal and magic of The Hunger Games, with varying levels of success. For every Maze Runner, there’s a dusty Divergent sitting unfinished in the corner unloved. But hey, timing is everything and since BookTok became a thing and helped a generation of attention-lacking adults remember that things on paper are worth giving your attention to, we’ve found a new wave of stories. And in good news, Warner Bros. may have just found a dystopian thriller with enough built-in fandom to actually make a run at it.
Warner Bros. Pictures has acquired the rights to adapt Tahereh Mafi’s bestselling Shatter Me novels into a feature film franchise. The deal comes as the series celebrates its 15th anniversary, with the books having sold more than 15 million copies worldwide, which is the kind of number tends to make studios pay attention. “A built-in fanbase? We’re going to be billionaires!” they’d say.
Collider Exclusive · Sci-Fi Survival Quiz Which Sci-Fi World Would You Survive? The Matrix · Mad Max · Blade Runner · Dune · Star Wars
Five universes. Five completely different ways the future went wrong — or sideways, or up in flames. Only one of them is the world your instincts were built for. Eight questions will figure out which dystopia, galaxy, or desert wasteland you’d actually make it out of alive.
The Matrix
Mad Max
Blade Runner
Dune
Star Wars
01
You sense something is deeply wrong with the world around you. What do you do? The first instinct is often the truest one.
02
In a world of scarcity, what resource do you guard most fiercely? What we protect reveals what we believe survival actually requires.
03
What kind of threat keeps you up at night? Fear is useful data — if you’re honest about what you’re actually afraid of.
04
How do you deal with authority you don’t trust? Every dystopia has a power structure. Your approach to it determines everything.
05
Which environment could you actually endure long-term? Survival isn’t just tactical — it’s physical, psychological, and very much about where you are.
06
Who do you want in your corner when things fall apart? The company you keep is the clearest signal of who you actually are.
07
Where do you draw the line — if you draw one at all? Every survivor eventually faces a moment that tests what they’re actually made of.
08
What would actually make survival worth it? Staying alive is one thing. Having a reason to is another.
Your Fate Has Been Calculated You’d Survive In…
Your answers point to the world your instincts were built for. This is the universe your temperament, your survival instincts, and your particular brand of stubbornness were made for.
The Resistance, Zion
The Matrix
You took the red pill a long time ago — probably before anyone offered it to you. You’re a systems thinker who can’t help but notice the seams in things.
You’re drawn to understanding how the system works before figuring out how to break it.
You’d find the Resistance, or it would find you — your instinct for spotting constructed realities is the machines’ worst nightmare.
You function best when you have access to information and the freedom to act on it.
The Matrix built an airtight prison. You’d be the one probing the walls for the door.
The Wasteland
Mad Max
The wasteland doesn’t reward the clever or the well-connected — it rewards those who are hard to kill and harder to break. That’s you.
You don’t need comfort, community, or a cause larger than the next horizon.
You need a vehicle, a clear threat, and enough fuel to outrun it — and you’re good at all three.
You are unsentimental enough to survive that world, and decent enough — just barely — to be something more than another raider.
In the wasteland, that distinction is everything.
Los Angeles, 2049
Blade Runner
You’d survive here because you know how to exist in moral grey areas without losing yourself completely.
You read people accurately, keep your circle small, and ask the questions others prefer not to answer.
In a city where humanity is a legal designation rather than a feeling, you hold onto something that keeps you functional.
You’re not a hero. But you’re not lost, either.
In Blade Runner’s world, that distinction is everything.
Arrakis
Dune
Arrakis is the most hostile environment in the known universe — and you are precisely the kind of person it rewards.
Patience, discipline, and political awareness are your core strengths — and on Arrakis, they’re survival tools.
You understand that the long game matters more than any single victory.
Others come to Dune and are consumed by it. You’d learn its logic and earn its respect.
In time, you wouldn’t just survive Arrakis — you’d begin to reshape it.
A Galaxy Far, Far Away
Star Wars
The galaxy far, far away is vast, loud, and in a constant state of violent political upheaval — and you wouldn’t have it any other way.
You find meaning in being part of something larger than yourself — a cause, a crew, a rebellion.
You’d gravitate toward the Rebellion, or the fringes, or whatever pocket of the galaxy still believes the Empire’s grip can be broken.
You fight — not because you have to, but because standing aside isn’t something you’re capable of.
In Star Wars, that willingness is what makes all the difference.
What’s ‘Shatter Me’ About?
Shatter Me follows Juliette Ferrars, a teenage girl whose touch is lethal, as she fights against The Reestablishment, a totalitarian regime ruling over a dystopian world. Across the series, Juliette discovers the truth about her power while dealing with the usual tropes of romance, rebellion, and the kind of oppressive future government that’s a legal requirement in these sorts of books.
The Shatter Me series has been released in 38 territories and been translated into 34 languages, with more to follow. In 2025, Mafi released Watch Me, the first installment of a new series in the Shatter Me universe, called The New Republic. The book takes place ten years after the end of the previous series, and it became an instant No. 1 bestseller on the New York Times list.
Book 2 of The New Republic series, Release Me, arrived in April and also shot immediately to No. 1 on the bestseller list. Book 3, Escape Me, is set to follow in September.
Mafi said in a statement, “I’ve been tremendously lucky to have a devoted fanbase over the last fifteen years, and I’m excited for the chance to bring the Shatter Me world and characters to life in a way that will honor the fans and their love for these books. Warner Bros. has been a great partner so far, and I’m looking forward to creating a memorable cinematic experience that elevates the series to new heights.”
