Ubisoft’s latest venture in the award-winning Assassin’s Creed franchise comes in the form of a new Netflix show. One of the most famous game series of all time, the franchise is iconic for its imagery and innovative graphics. Spanning over thirteen years, the series has gripped fans with flashy cutscenes, charismatic protagonists in historic settings.
From Ancient Greece to the Industrial Revolution and beyond, the series covers several important historical events. With such a vast range in settings, the plot gives a lot of maneuverability to screenwriters. Apparently, Netflix agreed with that viewpoint and has announced a new series based on the franchise. Following the success of The Witcher, which came out last year, Netflix seems to feel braver, ordering a new show in a similar vein.
On their official Twitter account, the streaming giant released a short teaser clip to announce the new show. The clip shows the signature logo of the Assassin Creed games, an eagle‘s skull. Eagles are centric to gameplay in the games, with most of the protagonists being blessed with supernatural senses called Eagle Vision. The clip ends with the Netflix logo inside the Assassin’s Creed one, showing their collaboration.
Netflix has many ideas for what the new show will look like
Earlier, rumors abounded that Assassin’s Creed was getting a new show. But it didn’t really seem all that likely then, seeing as Ubisoft had promised a show more than three years ago. Then, in July of 2017, the producer of the hit Netflix show Castlevania Adi Shankar announced that he had been hired to work on an Assassin’s Creed show. So why are you only hearing about this now? Well, because Mr. Shankar was hired to make an anime, not a live-action.
Netflix + Assassin's Creed pic.twitter.com/yI2sItnMgi
— Netflix Geeked (@NetflixGeeked) October 27, 2020
Since then, we’ve been left wondering where that project has reached in development. There haven’t been any leaks, so there is nothing to go by. Looks like Netflix runs a pretty tight ship, which left a lot to speculate about. While we still have no clues about the anime, we can confirm that this leak is for a live-action show. Sorry, Castlevania fans, you’ll have to wait a little longer.
Ubisoft has brought Assassin’s Creed to screen before
Way back in 2012, Ubisoft announced a movie of the same name as the series. The film starred Michael Fassbender and was to be produced by Sony, but that deal quickly fell apart. By the time the movie was released in 2016, its script had been rewritten twice, and directors changed. Needless to say, the movie did terrible with critics and at the box office.
Since then, there haven’t been any feature-length films in the franchise. The words “live-action adaptation” make most die-hard fans cringe. But with the skill of some of the directors and producers Netflix has access to, there is no reason to believe this show will go the same way.
We could be looking at more than one series at the same time
As we said before, there are separate reports about an anime and a live-action show. Ubisoft has made animated films before, starring fan-favorite character Ezio in Assassin’s Creed: Embers. Still, with a talented producer like Adi Shankar at the helm, this new show will undoubtedly be much better.
The new announcement leaves us to wonder whether the anime has been shelved or canceled. It isn’t likely that Netflix would pull the plug on its own series before launch. However, with a dark history of canceling popular shows, if the live-action doesn’t do well, Netflix might abort the entire ship and cancel both. Let’s be hopeful for the new show as we await more details.