Netflix is currently searching for showrunner for their latest live-action video game adaptation, Assassin’s Creed, according to The Hollywood Reporter. The series is the first production in what Netflix anticipates will be many in a line-up of TV adaptations of the Ubisoft action-adventure franchise, Collider reports.
This is not the first time that Netflix has attempted a small-screen adaptation of this best-selling title. Producer Adi Shankar (Judge Dredd: Superfiend, Castlevania) announced that he had allegedly been tapped by Ubisoft to develop an original anime series based on the Assassin’s Creed universe in 2017, as reported by The Verge. Conversations between Netflix and Ubisoft personnel have reportedly been happening since the autumn of 2016, Reuters reports.
Granted, in 2016, Netflix didn’t already have its critically acclaimed series adaptation of The Witcher to demonstrate how live-action TV show based on an interactive property could gain international popularity in the era of digital streaming. Entertainment Weekly alleges that over seventy-six million individual Netflix users watched the first season of The Witcher in the four weeks following its December 20th launch date. The Witcher: Blood Origin, limited series that will function as a prequel to the 2019 blockbuster fantasy program, is also in development at Netflix, as reported by IGN.
The streaming giant is also preparing to launch a serialized live-action show based on Capcom‘s survival horror franchise Resident Evil, according to The Hollywood Reporter. A six-film franchise based on the game launched in 2002 and ended in 2016. To date, it is the highest-grossing film series based on an interactive property, Game Informer reports. Assassin’s Creed had its own big-screen adaptation, which arrived mere days before the world premiere of Resident Evil: The Final Chapter. Assassin’s Creed: Lineage, trio of short films directed by Quebecois Yves Simoneau (Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee, Ignition), was released online in 2009. The shorts were compiled not long after their YouTube debut and were subsequently offered as supplementary material on physical releases of the deluxe editions of Assassin’s Creed II and Brotherhood, and were additionally packaged with the box set The Ezio Collection.
The latest installment in Ubisoft’s Assassin’s Creed franchise — Assassin’s Creed Valhalla — has scheduled release date of November 10th. It is available for pre-order for PlayStation 4 and Xbox One.