Stage play
Stuart Gordon adapted the novel for Chicago's Organic Theater Company in 1983, in part as a reaction to what Gordon considered the "ultra-sanitized video game" style Star Wars brought to science fiction.[11] The play starred Bruce A. Young as William Mandella.
Game
Mayfair Games published a board game based on the novel in 1983.
Graphic novel
Belgian comic writer Marvano has, in cooperation with Haldeman, created a graphic novel trilogy of The Forever War. With some very minor changes and omissions to storyline and setting, it faithfully adapts the same themes in visual style. The series was translated into various languages, and had a follow-up trilogy connected to Forever Free.
Film
In 1988, Richard Edlund (who won Visual Effects Oscars for Star Wars, Empire, Raiders, Jedi) began to option the rights to The Forever War. In October 1994, he bought the rights to the property. In 2008, he optioned the rights to Ridley Scott, who announced that, after a 25-year wait for the rights to become available, he was making a return to science fiction with a film adaptation of The Forever War.[12] In March 2009, Scott stated that the film would be in 3D, citing James Cameron's Avatar as an inspiration for doing so.[13][14] In the summer of 2010, Scott revealed that State of Play writer Matthew Michael Carnahan was currently on the fourth draft of a screenplay originally written by David Peoples.[15][16] As of May 2014, Haldeman stated he believed the project was on its seventh draft of the script.[17] In May 2015, following the apparent expiration of a development agreement with 20th Century Fox and Scott Free, Warner Bros. won the rights to the novel and planned to develop the project with writer Jon Spaihts and with Channing Tatum in a starring role.[18]
