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Is Elysium Based On A Book Or Novel?

Heard some movie fans say Elysium is adapted from a novel. Wondering if the sci-fi concept originally came from a book series or its own story.
2026-06-15 12:15:25
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12 Answers

Best Answer
Nina Straßer-Liotti
Nina Straßer-Liotti
Elysium is an original game by its studio, and thus does not appear to be based off of any one book. If you are looking for more immersive sci-fi of a similar nature and wish to explore the boundaries of an artificial world, and the human consciousness that exists within, then you may find the web novel EDEN: The Daughter of the Moon of interest. The novel follows the child of a creator as she tries to find her place in a fractured utopia of stunning digital beauty, all the while questioning what is real and what is not in a world created by another.
2026-07-21
Harper
Harper
'Elysium' is not a book adaptation, but it is highly influenced by a number of classic sci-fi films. The extreme divide between the rich and the poor is reminiscent of 'Snowpiercer', and the fairly standard, but always impressive, cyberpunk tech is reminiscent of 'Ghost in the Shell'. While the style of 'Elysium' is very cinematic, a novelization of the film could have added a lot more depth to the world, as it stands the movie is just fine as it is.
2026-06-16
Xanthe
Xanthe
I was really hoping that Elysium could be a novel of some sort but alas it’s just a screenplay. I like how it consolidates a number of familiar sci-fi motifs – the space station as utopian(‘Gattaca’ style) location or the corpo-dystopian future of ‘Cyberpunk 2077’ – into something fairly original. And, unlike many science fiction films of late, it doesn’t have the benefit of a source novel, so the world is not as fully realized as it could be. So, as it stands, it’s a nice vehicle for discussions of inequality, and I’d like to go back and read ‘The Dispossessed’ by Le Guin in order to explore the downfall of a number of different utopias.
2026-06-17
Finn
Finn
'Elysium' could be a really interesting novel. Oh wait, it's actually a novel. I was really sold on this original story from the director of 'District 9' (it's not a book adaptation), because it's a really rich premise that could be set on a ruined Earth where the excessers have an Elysium floating in space, but instead of going there, a dirty Earth guy goes up to save his dying daughter.

It would be a great novel, because although the movie is very visually stunning, more could be told about the habitat, and even the back stories of some of the side characters on Earth. Perhaps someone can write a tie-in novel for this, I would definitely read that.
2026-06-17
Dylan
Dylan
Yes, Elysium is an original screenplay by Neill Blomkamp for the 2013 film that stars Matt Damon. I was also wondering if Elysium was based on a novel, but it is not. The themes in the movie are typical for a dystopian novel, and the worldbuilding in the film is similar to what you would read in a novel by Neal Stephenson (e.g. Snow Crash) or Philip K. Dick (e.g. Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?).

The film seems to borrow a number of ideas from classic science fiction, and blends them together to create something unique and original. There’s certainly some similarity with works such as H.G. Wells’ The Time Machine, and the dystopian future of Brave New World, particularly in regards to the extreme divide between the privileged and the oppressed. For fans of the movie’s aesthetic and technical sophistication, it may be worth reading the original source material for similar stories.
2026-06-18

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