Editing Childhood's End (section)

==Adaptations==
In the 1960s, director Stanley Kubrick was interested in making a film adaptation of the novel, but [[Hollywood blacklist|blacklisted]] director [[Abraham Polonsky]] had already optioned it. Instead, Kubrick collaborated with Clarke on adapting the short story "[[The Sentinel (short story)|The Sentinel]]" into what eventually became ''2001: A Space Odyssey'' (1968).<ref>{{harvnb|Baxter|1997|pp=199–230}}. See also: {{harvnb|Buhle|Wagner|2002}}.</ref>  Months before his performance at Woodstock in 1969, folk singer and guitarist [[Richie Havens]] told ''[[Ebony (magazine)|Ebony]]'' magazine about his appreciation of Clarke's story and expressed his interest in working on a future film adaptation of ''Childhood's End''.{{sfn|Bogle|1969|pp=107-108}} Screenplays by Polonsky and [[Howard Koch (screenwriter)|Howard Koch]] were never made into films.<ref>For a brief discussion as to why novels like ''Childhood's End'' have not been adapted into films, and the challenges involved in production, see {{cite news|last=Beale|first=Lewis|date=2001-07-08|title=A Genre of the Intellect With Little Use for Ideas|newspaper=[[The New York Times]]|page=12|issn=0362-4331|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2001/07/08/movies/film-a-genre-of-the-intellect-with-little-use-for-ideas.html}}</ref>

David Elgood first proposed a radio adaptation of the novel in 1974, but nothing came of it in that decade.{{cn|date=January 2025}}

Philip DeGuere, whose credits include the TV series ''[[Alias Smith and Jones]]'', developed a script in the late 1970s for Universal, who planned to film it initially as a six-hour mini-series for CBS Television, and later as a two- or three-hour [[telemovie]] for ABC. However, Universal discovered that its contracts with Arthur C. Clarke – some of which dated back to 1957 – were out of date. These contractual difficulties were resolved in 1979 and DeGuere worked with legendary comic book artist [[Neal Adams]] on preproduction drawings and other material. The project had Clarke's approval. However Universal decided that the budget required would be nearly $40 million and they were only prepared to spend $10 million, so the movie was not made.<ref>"A Difficult Childhood: The Unmanifested Destiny of Arthur C. Clarke's "Childhood's End{{'"}}, in David Hughes, ''The Greatest Sci-Fi Movies Never Made''. Chicago, Illinois: A Capella Books, 2001, pp. 18–23.</ref>

Director Brian Lighthill revisited the radio adaptation proposal and obtained the rights in 1995. After Lighthill received a go-ahead from [[BBC Radio]] in 1996, he commissioned a script from Tony Mulholland, resulting in a new, two-part adaptation. The BBC produced the two-hour radio dramatization of the novel, and broadcast it on [[BBC Radio 4]] in November 1997. The recording was released on cassette by BBC Audiobooks in 1998 and on CD in 2007.{{sfn|Pixley|2007}}

{{As of|2002}}, film rights to the novel were held by [[Universal Pictures]], with director [[Kimberly Peirce]] attached to a project.{{sfn|Elder|Hart|2008|p=9}}

On April 10, 2013, the [[Syfy Channel]] announced its plans to develop [[Childhood's End (miniseries)|a ''Childhood's End'' TV miniseries]].<ref>[https://archive.today/20140922170955/http://www.comingsoon.net/news/tvnews.php?id=102726 "Syfy to Adapt Childhood's End, Ringworld, The Lotus Caves and More!"]</ref>{{fcn|date=November 2024}} The three-episode, four-hour production premiered December 14, 2015. [[Charles Dance]] portrays the Supervisor Karellen.

An illustration of an Overlord as depicted by artist [[Wayne Barlowe]] was published in ''[[Barlowe's Guide to Extraterrestrials]]''.{{sfn|Barlowe|1987}}