Games Workshop and Amazon Studios have signed a deal which will see Warhammer 40,000 adapted for the screen. Henry Cavill will serve as executive producer.
The grimdark future of the Warhammer 40,000 universe has taken one step closer to becoming a TV show, film or potentially both, as Games Workshop has signed a deal with Amazon Studios. The agreement has been in the works for about a year, but Games Workshop – the British company which makes the tabletop wargame series – has now announced that “the next stage can begin” on the creative partnership.
Henry Cavill – who’s an unabashed fan of Warhammer 40,000 – will be a major part of the venture, and will serve as both executive producer and star in whatever Amazon and Games Workshop end up producing.
On that front, the latter company is playfully coy about what will emerge from the deal. “Now comes the fun part: working out all the creative details with our partners and getting the first script written and into production,” reads an excitable blog post on Warhammer Community (via the BBC). “What Warhammer 40,000 stories should we tell first? Should we kick off with a movie or a TV show? Both?!”
Writers will certainly have a rich stew of lore to draw from: Warhammer 40,000 takes place in a grubby future where heavily armoured, human Space Marines battle aliens and demonic forces. It’s a universe that draws on everything from space opera to Tolkien-esque fantasy to Lovecraftian horror, and filled with some ridiculously cool characters and war machines – seriously, check out the anime-inspired Eldar Wraithknight. Great, isn’t it?
Although Warhammer 40,000 hasn’t been adapted into a TV series or film before, there have been a quite staggering number of videogames based on the property, including this year’s retro-inspired first-person shooter, Boltgun and turn-based RPG, Rogue Trader.
It’s likely to be a while before we see the non-interactive take on Warhammer 40,000 materialise on our screens though – something Games Workshop is open about in its blog post.
“TV and Film production is a mammoth undertaking,” the company writes. “It’s not unusual for projects to take two to three years from this point before something arrives on screen. Still, things are now properly rolling, and you can bet we’ll bring you all the latest updates and cool snippets as soon as we’re able.”
Neither Games Workshop nor Amazon Studios have revealed how much their deal’s worth, but it’s likely to be worth millions of pounds – the equivalent of at least six pots of tiny Citadel Colour paint.
