Quentin Tarantino’s The Adventures of Cliff Booth: Release Date and Movie Connection

Quentin Tarantino is returning to the world of Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, this time with another novel.

Tarantino’s second novel, The Adventures of Cliff Booth, will be published on December 8, 2026. The book continues the story of Cliff Booth, the laid-back stuntman and fixer played by Brad Pitt in the 2019 movie Once Upon a Time in Hollywood.

The timing is no coincidence. Tarantino’s novel is directly connected to Netflix’s new Brad Pitt movie, The Further Mis-Adventures of Cliff Booth. That film was written by Tarantino, directed by David Fincher and will bring Pitt back to the role that earned him the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor.

For fans, the unusual part is the release order. The movie will begin an exclusive two-week IMAX engagement on November 25, 2026. The novel follows on December 8, before the movie becomes available to stream on Netflix on December 23.

That gives readers and moviegoers three different dates to watch and potentially three different ways to experience Cliff Booth’s next chapter.

The Adventures of Cliff Booth Release Date

The Adventures of Cliff Booth will be released on December 8, 2026.

Harper, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers, will publish the novel in hardcover, ebook and audiobook formats. Weidenfeld & Nicolson will publish it simultaneously in the United Kingdom.

The publisher describes the book as both a sequel to Tarantino’s bestselling 2021 novel Once Upon a Time in Hollywood and a novelization of the upcoming movie The Further Mis-Adventures of Cliff Booth.

In announcing the book, Tarantino said he could not wait for audiences to see and read Cliff Booth’s further adventures.

Release schedule at a glance

How Is the New Book Connected to Brad Pitt’s Movie?

The book and movie tell the next story in Cliff Booth’s life, but their slightly different titles may cause some confusion.

The book is titled The Adventures of Cliff Booth. The movie is titled The Further Mis-Adventures of Cliff Booth.

Both projects originate with Tarantino. He wrote the novel as well as the original screenplay for the movie, but he is not directing the film. David Fincher is behind the camera, while Brad Pitt returns as Cliff Booth and also serves as a producer.

The new story moves forward to 1977, eight years after the alternate-history events of Once Upon a Time in Hollywood. Netflix has described it as a very different Hollywood, with Cliff no longer simply working as Rick Dalton’s stunt double.

Instead, the former stuntman has reportedly become a Hollywood studio fixer—the person called upon to deal with scandals, secrets and problems that powerful people want handled quietly.

That role feels perfectly suited to Cliff. He was already the original movie’s most mysterious character: calm under pressure, capable of sudden violence and comfortable moving through the less glamorous corners of Los Angeles. Making him a studio fixer gives Tarantino and Fincher a natural way to explore the darker side of the movie business in the late 1970s.

Will the Book and Movie Tell the Same Story?

The broad story will be connected, but readers should not assume the novel is merely the screenplay rewritten as prose.

Harper says The Adventures of Cliff Booth will present Tarantino’s own creative vision of the story in ways intended to surprise readers. The publisher specifically compared it to his Once Upon a Time in Hollywood novel, which expanded and altered the movie’s narrative.

That distinction matters. Tarantino’s 2021 novel did not simply recap the 2019 film scene by scene. It rearranged parts of the story, gave readers more of the characters’ histories and spent additional time inside the fictional Hollywood culture surrounding Rick Dalton and Cliff Booth.

The same approach could make the new novel essential even for readers who see the film in IMAX first. The book may provide material that does not appear onscreen, explain Cliff’s past or offer a different perspective on events in the movie. Exactly what has been added or changed has not yet been revealed.

In other words, the safest way to view the two projects is as companion versions of the same adventure rather than identical products.

What Is The Further Mis-Adventures of Cliff Booth About?

Netflix has kept detailed plot information under wraps. What is confirmed is that the story takes place in 1977 and centers on Brad Pitt’s Cliff Booth in a Hollywood that has changed significantly since 1969.

The cast also includes Elizabeth Debicki, Scott Caan, Carla Gugino, Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, Peter Weller, Matt Groove, JB Tadena, Corey Fogelmanis and Karren Karagulian.

David Fincher directing a Quentin Tarantino screenplay is one of the project’s biggest attractions. Fincher and Pitt previously worked together on Se7en, Fight Club and The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. Tarantino, meanwhile, created Cliff Booth and directed Pitt’s Oscar-winning performance in Once Upon a Time in Hollywood.

This time, Tarantino remains the writer while Fincher shapes the material visually. It is a rare meeting of two filmmakers with intensely recognizable styles: Tarantino’s love of movie history, digressive dialogue and pulp storytelling combined with Fincher’s precision and darker psychological atmosphere.

Is This Quentin Tarantino’s Second Book?

It is Tarantino’s second novel, but not his second published book overall.

His debut novel, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, was released in 2021 and became a No. 1 New York Times bestseller. Tarantino followed it with Cinema Speculation in 2022, a nonfiction collection combining film criticism, personal history and reflections on 1970s cinema.

The Adventures of Cliff Booth returns him to fiction and to the character who received some of the most substantial new material in his first novel.

The announcement also reinforces that Tarantino’s career is no longer limited to directing movies. Even as questions continue about what he will choose as his final film, he is using books to expand stories beyond what audiences can see onscreen.

Why This Release Is So Interesting

The release strategy turns Cliff Booth’s return into something closer to a three-part event.

Moviegoers can see the film first in IMAX beginning November 25. Readers can then pick up Tarantino’s version of the story on December 8, during the movie’s theatrical window. Netflix subscribers will finally be able to stream the film at home on December 23.

That order invites comparisons at every stage. Readers who watch the movie first can look for scenes, backstory and internal details that Tarantino expands in the novel. Those who wait for Netflix could read the book first and then see how Fincher interprets the same material.

For book fans, that is the real reason to pay attention. Movie novelizations often arrive as merchandise built around an existing screenplay. Tarantino’s previous novel showed that he is interested in using prose to reconsider a story, not simply reproduce it. If the new book takes the same approach, it could stand on its own while also deepening one of his most memorable characters.

When Will We Learn More?

With the novel now officially scheduled for December 8, additional details should emerge as publication approaches. A full synopsis, page count, cover reveal and audiobook narrator were not included in the initial announcement.

Those details should be treated as unconfirmed until Harper or another official source announces them.

For now, the central facts are clear: Quentin Tarantino has written a new Cliff Booth novel, Brad Pitt is returning in a connected David Fincher movie, and both versions of the story will arrive within weeks of each other at the end of 2026.

Frequently Asked Questions

When is The Adventures of Cliff Booth book coming out?

Quentin Tarantino’s The Adventures of Cliff Booth will be published on December 8, 2026, in hardcover, ebook and audiobook formats.

Is The Adventures of Cliff Booth connected to Once Upon a Time in Hollywood?

Yes. The novel is a sequel to Tarantino’s 2021 Once Upon a Time in Hollywood novel and continues the story of Cliff Booth.

Is Brad Pitt in the new Cliff Booth movie?

Yes. Brad Pitt returns as Cliff Booth in The Further Mis-Adventures of Cliff Booth, directed by David Fincher from a screenplay by Quentin Tarantino.

When does the Cliff Booth movie come out?

The movie begins an exclusive two-week IMAX run on November 25, 2026, and arrives on Netflix on December 23, 2026.

Are the book and movie titles the same?

No. The novel is The Adventures of Cliff Booth. The movie is The Further Mis-Adventures of Cliff Booth.

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