We’re back with more games that should be adapted into TV series, but you can read the first article here!
Grand Theft Auto
This is low-hanging fruit and something fans have wanted to see for years. A movie about Grand Theft Auto and especially the fifth game in the franchise would be an incredibly popular adaptation, but what if you had to dream even bigger and create an entire TV series from start to finish? A mammoth project of course, but what a masterpiece that would be and what a cast list you could line up. Michael Mann produces and Martin Scorsese directs. Rough guys who have been there before and made gangster stuff and heist movies with gusto. Tarantino guest stars in episodes of Trevor where things really have to get out of hand.
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For casting you could have Walton Goggins as Trevor, as psychotic and brilliantly insane as Boyd Crowder in Justified. Pedro Pascal could be our Michael. Pascal is hot now and might as well bring that star power to the series. They’re not exactly alike, but neither are Joel and Pascal. No, he’d be great as the middle-aged guy with questionable morals and colorful shirts and then Michael B. Jordan could play Franklin. The guy with the big heart, who wants to break the law but doesn’t like to see anyone get hurt.
In addition to GTA V, we could also see a Tommy Vercetti adaptation of Vice City. Here I imagine Robert Pattinson. Tall and majestic, charismatic, impassive and dry, just like Vercetti. Niko Belic is in fact already based on the character of Vladimir Mashkov in Behind Enemy Lines of 2001, but to tell the truth, he is dedicated to Jason Statham. It’s a role he calls into every day of the week. Claude in the third game is a bit harder to cast after all he is a pixelated gentleman from the past but Rami Malek wouldn’t be pissed.
Bioshock
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There’s already a movie on the way, but I honestly didn’t have high expectations for Francis Lawrence’s Netflix adaptation. No, instead I would have liked to see a mini-series here, by Craig Mazin. The creator of Chernobyl and The Last of Us knows how to make a grand and shocking story dark and emotional. In his hands, 8-10 episodes could have been something extraordinary, an experience we would not soon forget. And since Mazin will also soon be involved in a golf club accident, I mean, why not make another one?
Detroit becomes human
David Cage’s vision of the future is perfect for a TV series. Well actually, it’s Ray Kurzweil’s vision as the game is mostly based on the novel, The Singularity Is Near, but regardless, I’d say that in the right hands, there’s every chance for greatness here. An emotional neo-noir thriller with many twists and turns that could visually be turned into a real wet dream by a creative master, someone like Denis Villeneuve. It’s not that far from Dune, Arrival and Blade Runner after all. Taron Egerton as Connor, Jennifer Lawrence as Kara. Jesse Williams, who voices Markus, is a reasonably accomplished actor after all, with nearly 300 episodes of Grey’s Anatomy under his belt, so he manages to stick around. Nick Offerman could make a great Hank, obviously, but he can also join Jeff Bridges here if need be. There’s also the possibility that Clancy Brown could return as a character.
manhunt
Here I see a production that is brutal beyond all limits. Just like the games, the goal is to be banned forever from as many parts of the planet as possible. Not a successful business idea perhaps, but that’s the way it can be sometimes and Rockstar can still afford to do it for me. What you lose on the swings you make up on the rides and so on. But here we are talking about a pervasive atmosphere that makes the blood run cold and the already weak psyche die. Grindhouses galore.
Lite Motel Hell, part of The Last House on Dead End Street. Seen, Hostel. Movies like Texas Chainsaw Massacre should look like a children’s party in comparison. All my darkest desires and deepest abyss are there for you to embrace. As James Earl Cash, I imagine someone who’s really arrogant, has a short fuse, and is extremely violent. Preferably a guy who consistently refuses to let go of the fridge. Welcome Jon Bernthal! As Piggsy, the cannibalistic, pig-headed mass murderer, there’s no doubt John Cena. David Fincher, Eli Roth and Ari Aster share directing duties, for a truly dark and eerie atmosphere.
dead space
There was a rumor going around that John Carpenter was going to be involved in a Dead Space movie, which was later revealed to be untrue, but it was going to be something nonetheless. But we think a TV series could do even better. It would be a painfully claustrophobic spectacle, where sudden death is always waiting around every corner. A terribly sweaty experience, not seen since Alien. Trapped, hunted and alone. Cold, wet and soaked in blood. Michael Fassbender as Isaac Clarke you say? Yes why not. After all, he’s been in alien environments before and even if the tape recorder doesn’t come this time, maybe he can pull off Take Me Home Country Roads as the aliens are slaughtered in the narrow corridors.
Assassin’s Creed
However, the aforementioned Fassbender won’t be around when Assassin’s Creed finally gets its redemption in the form of a true blockbuster. We should belatedly forget the abomination of an adaptation that came out seven years ago where nothing worked and Fassbender was the most jaded killer ever. It’s time to fix it now with a comprehensive history, from Ancient Greece 430BC to Victorian London at the end of the 19th century. Probably at least ten seasons and billions of dollars in budget.
A huge ensemble would be involved, of course, where the characters also gradually age through the different parts. Ezio Auditore da Firenze, for example, is in his late teens in Assassin’s Creed II and middle-aged in Brotherhood, so there’s a casting challenge, and there are also male and female leads to choose from in the last three games, so the creators have to decide which Eivor they want to take on the journey, but my goodness what an epic adventure that could be. It’s enough to make you reach for smelly salts just thinking about it.
Did we miss any games? What do you think could make a great TV series?