The grim darkness of the far future is ripe with horrors, so who is better than a legendary horror director to be attached to the upcoming Warhammer 40,000 Prime Video live-action adaptation? In the latest Games Workshop financial report, CEO Kevin Rountree revealed that Amazon has assigned United Artists and Mike Flanagan to the project: “Having completed initial outlines, Mike should soon be moving on to script,” the report reads.
Flanagan is known for directing adaptations of Stephen King works such as Gerald’s Game and Doctor Sleep, as well as Netflix horror series The Haunting of Hill House, The Haunting of Bly Manor, Midnight Mass, and The Fall of the House of Usher. His next projects include another King adaptation, Prime Video’s Carrie, and DC Studios’ Clayface.
The director will join Henry Cavill on the adaptation of Games Workshop’s popular tabletop wargame, which is set in a far future where humanity’s progress and exploration of the universe led to conflict with aliens, cosmic horrors, and worse. Warhammer 40,000 was “grimdark” before grimdark was cool, and the expectations of many fans are riding on this first live-action adaptation. Cavill is a massive fan of the game and its universe, and the financial report confirms he’s still attached to the series. (With a big sigh of relief from fans who still have nightmares from Netflix’s The Witcher.)
However, there’s also less-than-good news. There are no details about the timeline for the project, and Games Workshop’s report states that “these adaptations will take years to bring successfully to market.” At least, the mention of adaptations, plural, hints that the partnership with Amazon will produce more than one movie or series.
Meanwhile, fans can look forward to the sequel to one of the best screen adaptations of the Warhammer 40,000 universe to screen, the animated episode that featured in the Secret Level anthology. Rountree stated in the report that “we have almost completed an episode for Secret Level Season 2,” but this time it will be set in the Age of Sigmar universe, 40,000’s less famous fantasy cousin. But fans of boltguns and chainswords should not despair: “We have begun work on a full animated Warhammer 40,000 series featuring our Space Marines – Deathwatch,” Rountree stated. “This series will be written by John Orloff, with Blur again animating, and released through Amazon.”
Raise your hymns to the God-Emperor, or chant foul invocations to the Pernicious Powers, whatever is your jam: The time for more Warhammer 40,000 on our screens is drawing near.
Leave a Reply