Board Thread:General Discussion/@comment-33451558-20180108013931/@comment-27794543-20180108044642

From what I can recall of the timeline, Jason Rothenberg started pitching the pilot in 2012. The first novel was not published until September 2013. So JR likely seen some drafts of the book, but in general, he was working from the concept created by Alloy Entertainment (btw, the company created the concept, not Kass Morgan, she was the writer hired to write the books and she does not own the copyright).

The first book was condensed to the pilot episode, which allowed them to make their own plot for the rest of the series. While they got rid of Glass, they added main adult characters (Jaha, Kane, & Abby) which the books lacked. The adult characters not only helped diversify the cast (and have the show appeal to a wider audience), they also gave a better view of what was happening on the Ark than Glass could. Luke was replaced by Raven. I'm not sure who you mean by Riley, since there was no book character with that name.

I read the books after watching three seasons. In my opinion, the books were poorly written & quite slow. The only reason I bothered to finish the first book, much less read the next three, was for this wiki – so I could knowledgeably assist with those pages and prevent vandalism and fanon additions. I know there are people who love the book series, so obviously my opinion doesn't match theirs.