Netflix Announces Live-Action ‘Assassin’s Creed’ Series
When ScreenCrush ranked every video game movie ever made from worst to best, there was a clear #1 pick: Assassin’s Creed, Justin Kurzel’s adaptation of the popular series of Ubisoft games about an endless war through history between the Assassins and the Templars. Admittedly, saying anything is the best video game movie is damning with faint praise. Nonetheless, this film — which starred Michael Fassbender — was good-looking and weird enough to at least capture the flavor of the games.
However, the film was not a hit, and the Assassin’s Creed film franchise began and ended with that one entry. Instead, the property will now become a TV series, as Netflix announced today that it was teaming with Ubisoft on a new live-action Assassin’s Creed series. Ubisoft’s Jason Altman and Danielle Kreinik are the series’ executive producers:
They also showed off this spiffy animated logo:
In truth, Assassin’s Creed was probably always more suited to TV than film. The games are sprawling epics set across multiple time periods. A movie can only really focus on one story, while a TV show could potentially explore different eras and characters. It could spend each season on a different assassin, the same way each Assassin’s Creed game has a different focus, or it could connect those assassins with a core cast in the present using the Animus device that allows people to access the memories of their ancestors. If Netflix gives Ubisoft enough money and creative control, the final result could be better than any video game movie ever made — including Assassin’s Creed.
Gallery — Every Video Game Movie, Ranked From Worst to Best: