Upcoming TV Shows Based On Video Games
2020 seems to be the year that tv producers have latched onto the video game industry for adaptations. Whilst the film industry has been rummaging through their video game collections to make adaptations for a while, it’s not been until this year we’ve seen their small-screen counterparts look to their gaming consoles and PCs to come up with stories.
I think it’s fair to say, generally, the game-to-film adaptations have generally been… not good… However, the longer-form nature of tv drama should work in game-to-tv adaptations favour as they have space and time to build upon the often expansive and rich video game worlds.
If you like video games, there are a huge amount to choose from. Along with the triple-A titles listed below, you could try your hand at Virgin Games where you can get promo codes which offer you a welcome bonus to get you started.
Here is a list of some upcoming game-to-tv adaptations we know are in development.
Cyberpunk: Edgerunners
I think it’s fair to say, CD Projekt’s upcoming game Cyberpunk 2077 is one of the most anticipated releases of the year. However, there is also an anime series in the works which is set in the same universe as the game. ‘Cyberpunk: Edgerunners’ is a standalone, 10-episode story about a street kid trying to survive in a technology and body modification-obsessed city of the future. Having everything to lose, he chooses to stay alive by becoming an edgerunner—a mercenary outlaw also known as a cyberpunk. The series is set to premiere in 2022.
Brothers in Arms
The Brothers in Arms video game series might have stalled in 2014, but that hasn’t stopped developer Gearbox Entertainment from teaming up with Scott Rosenbaum (‘Queen of the South’, ‘V’, ‘Gang Related’) to adapt the shooter franchise into a tv show. Announced in April 2020, the first season of the drama is, like the video games, inspired by true events in World War II. The starting point is set to be a previously-confidential operation called Exercise Tiger, a “rehearsal” for D-Day that went disastrously wrong…
Fallout
Whilst Fallout 76, the latest game in the franchise, has been plagued with issues, the world and franchise overall are beloved by fans. The post-apocalyptic world is such a rich backdrop to tell stories, it makes total sense for Amazon to tap up Jonathan Nolan and Lisa Joy’s Kilter Films to produce a tv show. Only announced in July 2020, we don’t yet know anything about the content of the drama, but it does promise to bring the unique atompunk retrofuturistic style, influenced by the post-war culture of 1950s United States, to screen, along with some of ‘Fallout’s trademark dark humour.
Halo
Due to premiere in 2021 on Showtime, the Halo tv series sees ‘Orange Is the New Black’ & ‘American Gods’ star Pablo Schreiber as Master Chief, Earth’s most advanced warrior in the 26th century and the only hope of salvation for a civilization pushed to the brink of destruction by the Covenant, an unstoppable alliance of alien worlds committed to the destruction of humanity. He is joined by newcomer Yerin Ha who will play a Quan Ah, a new character within Halo, described as a shrewd, audacious 16-year-old from the Outer Colonies that meets Master Chief at a fateful time for them both.
The Last of Us
Another show set in a post-apocalyptic world and based on a beloved game franchise, The Last of Us tv series comes from HBO and creator of ‘Chernobyl’, Craig Mazin. Again, as this was only announced in March 2020, we don’t know exactly what story they will run with, however, Mazin is set to write the script alongside writer and creative director of the original game, Neil Druckmann, so you know it’s likely to be high quality!
Resident Evil
News of a Resident Evil tv series had been kicking around since January 2019, but it was only in August 2020 that Netflix announced the show has been ordered to series. The drama comes from Andrew Dabb, co-showrunner on the brilliant ‘Supernatural’, and Constantin Film, who were behind the ‘Resident Evil’ movie franchise, and features a brand new story, split across two different timelines. The first timeline follows fourteen-year-old sisters Jade and Billie Wesker who move to the manufactured, corporate town of New Raccoon City, whilst the second timeline follows the thirty-year-old Jade as struggles to survive in a world where more that six billion people and animals infected with the T-virus.
