The War of the Worlds (1898) is a science fiction novel by H. G. Wells. It describes the memoirs of an unnamed narrator in the suburbs of Woking, Surrey, England, who recounts an invasion of Earth by an army of Martians with military technology far in advance to human science. It is said to be the first story that details a human conflict with, and overall defeat by, an extraterrestrial race.
Following its publication, The War of the Worlds rapidly entered popular culture. Through the 20th and 21st centuries, the novel has been adapted in various media, including radio, television and film. These have been produced with varying degrees of faithfulness to the original text, with many of the more famous adaptations, such as Orson Welles' 1938 radio adaptation and the 2005 film directed by Steven Spielberg, choosing to set the events in a contemporary setting. In addition, many adaptations, including both of the Americanised above, relocated the location from its original setting of the United Kingdom in favour of the United States. A recent adaptation of this type was produced in Canada and broadcast on Britain's BBC (Autumn 2013) and BBC America (Summer 2014) for the centenary of World War I. It posits the Martian invasion as The Great Martian War 1913–1917, with the Martians invading Earth, first falling on Germany, and then expanding their war on mankind throughout Western Europe.
Films Adaptations 1953: The War of the Worlds (1953 film), produced by George Pal and directed by Byron Haskin, for Paramount Pictures 1975: The Night That Panicked America, a film that follows Orson Welles' radio broadcast based on Wells' novel. 1981: The War of the Worlds: Next Century, a Polish film by Piotr Szulkin 2005: H. G. Wells' The War of the Worlds (Pendragon Pictures film), directed by Timothy Hines, for Pendragon Pictures 2005: H. G. Wells' War of the Worlds (The Asylum film), directed by David Michael Latt (titled Invasion or The Worlds in War internationally), for The Asylum. 2008: War of the Worlds 2: The Next Wave, sequel to The Asylum's film, directed by C. Thomas Howell 2005: War of the Worlds (2005 film), directed by Steven Spielberg and starring Tom Cruise, also for Paramount Pictures 2012: Alien Dawn: based very loosely on H. G. Wells' The War of the Worlds set in Los Angeles, Directed by Neil JohnsonMiller, Thomas Kent. Mars in the Movies: A History. Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland & Company, 2016. ISBN 978-0-7864-9914-4 2012: War of the Worlds - The True Story a sci-fi/action mockumentary, by Pendragon Pictures 2012: War of the Worlds: Goliath: Animated sequel set 15 years after the Wells novel 2021: War of the Worlds: Annihilation, produced by The Asylum 2023: War of the Worlds: The Attack, directed by Junaid Syed 2025: War of the Worlds (2025 film), directed by Rich Lee and starring Ice Cube, for Universal Pictures.
Parodies, homages, imitations 1984: The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension, a science fiction comedy in which Orson Welles' 1938 radio broadcast described actual alien landings by in New Jersey. Welles is later forced to claim that the broadcast was fiction. 1990: Spaced Invaders, a comic film directed by Patrick Read Johnson in which Martians land in a small Illinois town at the same time as the local radio station is rebroadcasting Orson Welles' radio drama. 1996: Mars Attacks!, a science fiction comedy by Tim Burton, which spoofs many alien invasion films of the 1950s, including 1953's The War of the Worlds. 1996: Independence Day is a sci-fi action film that, in addition to dealing with a similar large scale invasion of earth by extraterrestrials, pays homage to Welles' work by having a computer virus which disrupts the aliens, an update to the pathogens that caused the downfall of the aliens in the novel. 2006: Scary Movie 4, a spoof comedy that uses Steven Spielberg's film version as its plot. 2017: Brave New Jersey, a comedy about a New Jersey town impacted by the Orson Welles broadcast. In Dennis Wheatley's WWII spy thriller They Used Dark Forces, the protagonist Gregory Sallust manages to infiltrate Hitler's bunker in the final months of the war, gain the German dictator's confidence and convince him that he is fated to be reincarnated as a Martian and lead a Martian conquest of Earth - and enthralled by that expected future, Hitler is content to commit suicide rather than try to resort to guerrilla war and prolong the fighting by another year.
Television 1957: Studio One: Episode "The Night America Trembled", based on the Orson Welles' Mercury Players performance of a radio play version of H.G. Wells' War of the Worlds on 30 October 1938. 1975: The Night That Panicked America, an ABC-TV movie based on the events surrounding the Orson Welles' Mercury Players performance of a radio play version of H.G. Wells' War of the Worlds on 30 October 1938. 1988: War of the Worlds: Loosely based on Wells' novel, but mainly a sequel to the 1953 film. 1993: a planned animated series to be produced by New World Action Animation, a sister division to New World Animation Limited (formerly Marvel Productions) and subsidiary of New World Entertainment 2001: Justice League: an animated TV series adapts the main events and visuals of the novel for the three part story Secret Origins. Aliens, after destroying Mars, attack Earth via tripods and a team of superheroes, including Superman, attempt to stop them 2006: The Simpsons "Treehouse of Horror XVII" episode, "The Day the Earth Looked Stupid" takes the idea of the mass panic, but in the end once everyone realizes it was a hoax and they won't fall for it again, it turns out that aliens Kang and Kodos have successfully invaded Earth. The episode ends with the two aliens confused as to why they weren't hailed as the liberators of Earth, after destroying Springfield. 2013: The Great Martian War 1913–1917, a science fiction docudrama told in the format of an episode on the History Channel on the centennial of the first year of the War To End All Wars. 2019: The War of the Worlds: A three-part BBC adaptation set in Edwardian England. 2019–2022: War of the Worlds: A twenty-four-episode Fox and Studio Canal adaptation set in contemporary Europe.
Radio 1938: The War of the Worlds (1938 radio drama), the Orson Welles' 1938 radio adaptation, script by Howard E. Koch. 1944: War of the Worlds radio broadcast, Santiago. 1949: War of the Worlds radio broadcast, Radio Quito, Quito, Ecuador. 1950: The War of the Worlds, BBC radio dramatisation adapted from the novel by Jon Manchip White, 6 episodes. 1955: The Lux Radio Theater: War of the Worlds, adaptation of the 1953 film. 1967: The War of the Worlds, BBC radio dramatisation using the 1950 Jon Manchip White script, 6 episodes. 1968: The War of the Worlds (1968 radio drama), WKBW radio adaptation. 1971: War of the Worlds radio broadcast, Rádio Difusora, São Luís, Brazil. 1988: The War of the Worlds, an NPR 50th Anniversary radio adaptation with Jason Robards, using a slightly updated version of the Howard E. Koch script. 1994: The War of the Worlds, a production of L.A. Theatre Works using the Howard Koch script and featuring several actors known for their work on Star Trek 1998: Orson the Alien, episode of Seeing Ear Theater, radio comedy/drama, broadcast 30 October 1998, including audio snippets from Orson Welles' 1938 broadcast. 2001: The War of the Worlds, a radio adaptation in two parts by Winnie Waldron, narrated by and with music performed by Winifred Phillips, for Generations Radio Theaters "Tales by the Masters" on NPR. 2002: The War of the Worlds, Glenn Beck's Mercury Radio Arts recreates the 1938 program live on Halloween 2002, using the exact Howard E. Koch script. The program was sponsored by Bill's Khakis. 2005: La Guerra de los Mundos, radio broadcast, Rock & Pop, Santiago, Chile, broadcast as promotion of the 2005 movie. 2017: The War of the Worlds, BBC radio dramatization adapted from the novel by Melissa Murray, 2 episodes. 2018: The Coming of the Martians, a faithful audio dramatisation of the original 1897 story by Sherwood Sound Studios starring Colin Morgan and produced in 5.1 surround sound. 2018: The Martian Invasion of Earth, an audio drama adaptation for Big Finish Productions, adapted by Nicholas Briggs, and starring Richard Armitage and Lucy Briggs-Owen. 2019: The Day Of The Martians, book #1 of The Martian Diaries trilogy by H.E. Wilburson. An audio dramatisation sequel to 'The War Of The Worlds' with original music by H.E.Wilburson. First broadcast in May and June 2019 by Radio Woking.
Theatre 1978: War of the Worlds by Albert Reyes; premiered at the Nat Horne Theatre in New York 2004–2005: H.G. Wells' The War of the Worlds, a site specific theatre adaptation by Canadian playwright Ian Case staged in and around Craigdarroch Castle in Victoria, British Columbia. 2023: The War of the Worlds Stageplay, stage adaptation written and directed by Ian Chandler for Drama Workshop. Published by Amazon
Music 1978: Jeff Wayne's Musical Version of The War of the Worlds, by Jeff Wayne 1984: Radio Ga Ga, by Queen references the radio drama through the lyric "through Wars of Worlds, invaded by Mars" 2009: War of the Worlds, by Marc Broude 2012: Jeff Wayne's Musical Version of The War of the Worlds - The New Generation, by Jeff Wayne 2017: War of the Worlds, an opera by Annie Gosfield, commissioned by the Los Angeles Philharmonic 2018: War of the Worlds, Pt. 1, by Michael Romeo 2022: War of the Worlds, Pt. 2, by Michael Romeo
Games 1978: The octopus-like aliens of Space Invaders were inspired by Wells' Martians, as game designer Tomohiro Nishikado was a fan of the novel. 1979; 1982: The War of the Worlds, an arcade game published by Cinematronics, and its re-released color version. 1980: The War of the Worlds, a war board game designed by Allen D. Eldridge and published by Task Force Games. 1984: The War of the Worlds, a home computer game based on Jeff Wayne's Musical Version of The War of the Worlds. 1998: Jeff Wayne's The War of the Worlds, real-time strategy computer game. 1999: Jeff Wayne's The War of the Worlds, vehicular combat PlayStation game. 2003: The War of the Worlds d20 System supplement from Gold Rush Games. 2011: The War of the Worlds, a 2D action/platform game narrated by Patrick Stewart. 2020: Grey Skies: A War of the Worlds Story, a stealth adventure game created by Steel Arts Software where you play as a character named Harper as she tries to survive the invasion. 2021: Darker Skies, survival Horror set after the War of the Worlds. The War is over, but the effects linger. Take control of Jack, a survivor of the War of the Worlds.
Comic books 1946–1947: Edgar P. Jacobs produced an adaptation in the pages of the Le Journal de Tintin. An album released in 1986 was published by Dargaud. 1955: Classics Illustrated #124, a comic book adaptation of the book 1973–1976: Amazing Adventures #18–39 featured Killraven, a 21st-century freedom fighter against a second Martian invasion. 1977: Marvel Classics Comics #14, a comic book adaptation of the book. 1978: Waldemar Andrzejewski's 20-page comic book adaptation of the novel, written in Polish by J. Mielczarek. 1989: Scott Finley and Brooks Hagan's War of the Worlds is a six-issue miniseries from Eternity Comics which adapts the story to the Scottish highlands, focusing on a woman who's been the subject of alien genetic experiments. The Tripods are depicted as emerging from underground after centuries of stasis, prefiguring a similar conceit in Steven Spielberg's 2005 film. 1990: Sherlock Holmes in the Case of the Missing Martian published by Eternity Comics, is set in 1908, in the aftermath of the failed invasion. The story links the theft of the body of a dead Martian from the British Museum, fears of a second invasion, a plot by Professor Moriarty, and Holmes's retirement occupation in beekeeping.