Assassin’s Creed Show in the Works: What We Know So Far

Years in development, numerous production delays, and countless leaks and rumors later, Assassin’s Creed is finally making its way to the small screen. After at least five years of uncertainty, Netflix has finally greenlit its live-action adaptation of the Ubisoft franchise and has revealed it is moving forward with production.

Netflix has formally attached two showrunners to their long-anticipated series, Roberto Patino and David Wiener. Patino is known for writing for Sons of Anarchy on FX, as well as Westworld for HBO. Wiener has led the charge on the Paramount+ Halo series, as well as AMC’s Fear the Walking Dead.

Announcing the show is indeed going ahead, Patino and Wiener released a joint statement as well.

“We’ve been fans of Assassin’s Creed since it first released in 2007. Every day we work on this show, we come away excited and humbled by the possibilities that Assassin’s Creed opens to us,” Patino and Wiener said in a joint statement. “Beneath the scope, the spectacle, the parkour and the thrills is a baseline for the most essential kind of human story—about people searching for purpose, struggling with questions of identity and destiny and faith. It is about power and violence and sex and greed and vengeance. But more than anything, this is a show about the value of human connection, transcending cultures and time. And it’s about what we stand to lose as a species when those connections break.”

Ubisoft’s franchise has a long and winding history of its own.

Assassin’s Creed was first released as a “social stealth” action game in 2007, and while it was well received, it was the 2010 Renaissance Italy-based trilogy of Assassin’s Creed II, Brotherhood, and Revelations that raised the profile of the Ubisoft series. It introduced many fans to the character Ezio Auditore and his tale of historical exploration, personal discovery, and action, creating a legacy that persists to this day.

Since then, there have been 14 mainline Assassin’s Creed titles over the past 18 years. The later games have shifted from stealth-action and focused more on open-world RPG-style gameplay. While early games focused on the Middle East and Western Europe, there are entries set during the American Revolution, the Golden Age of Piracy in the Caribbean, Revolutionary Paris, Victorian London, Ancient Egypt, Classical Greece, Viking Britain, and most recently, Islamic Golden Age Baghdad.

Assassin’s Creed: Shadows, the most recent mainline entry, sent players to feudal Japan for the first time in the series, something players have long wanted. The game has been well received by fans and critics, with many citing Ubisoft’s decision to delay the game to ensure quality as the main reason the game succeeded. One can only hope that Netflix and Ubisoft will do the same with their upcoming live-action series.

What We Know About Assassin’s Creed (So Far)

Of course, since there hasn’t been an official trailer or announcement beyond greenlighting the production and attaching showrunners, there is not a lot of specific information known about the Netflix Assassin’s Creed. In broad strokes, as is the case in the games, the show will most likely follow the ongoing secret war between the Assassins and the Templars. Two ancient orders find themselves at war with each other over the future of the human race. As has been the case with previous entries, modern-day protagonists will find themselves in the Animus machine, reliving their ancestors’ genetic memories. These often find themselves at pivotal historical moments across the world.

Details are light in other areas as well, but that has not stopped fans from theorizing about the Netflix series. While casting is still to be announced and plot details are still under wraps, fans have begun asking whether this is going to follow existing characters and storylines established by the games, or will be its separate entity. The series will not be connected with the 2016 Assassin’s Creed film starring Michael Fassbender, which diverged from established Assassin’s Creed lore in favor of a separate storyline.

The Fassbender film was an unmitigated success, if a minor one, but the general reception was a mixed bag, so it is uncertain if Netflix’s live-action version will even acknowledge that film at all. The fact remains that there is a market for these stories, and streaming services like Netflix are hungry for new high-budget fantasy-historical shows with extensive world-building and lore. Video game-based live-action series are also being recognized more and more now that success stories like HBO’s The Last of Us have set the gold standard for faithful, high-budget adaptations.

Netflix’s Big Bet in Assassin’s Creed

From Netflix’s standpoint, a lot is riding on Assassin’s Creed. The production company has had moderate success with The Witcher, albeit not without its share of behind-the-scenes drama.

Whether Assassin’s Creed can match the critical success of something like The Witcher is still up for debate, but the ingredients are there. A production team experienced with handling both new stories and video game lore, a widely known brand, and an unprecedented ability to go back in time to explore deep histories that continue to fascinate players and audiences the world over.

So for now, it’s just a waiting game for the moment Netflix and Ubisoft get more production and release details out there. If they can pull it off, it could be one of the next big fantasy-historical epics for the streaming age.