Netflix’s Assassin’s Creed Adaptation: Why, and What to Expect

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Netflix’s Assassin’s Creed Adaptation: Why, and What to Expect

Click here to discover more about the upcoming Netflix original series based on the Assassin’s Creed video games, and how they can avoid past mistakes

Netflix’s Assassin’s Creed Adaptation: Why, and What to Expect

If you were keeping up with the latest movie news back in 2017, you may have noticed the somewhat muffled release of a feature-length adaptation of Ubisoft’s Assassin’s Creed, starring Michael Fassbender, Marion Cotillard, and Jeremy Irons. You may even have noticed a fair amount of disappointment and, at times, amusement from fans of the gaming series, as the movie was received, well…poorly.

Fans and critics criticised the movie’s lacklustre attempt at living up to the success of the video game franchise, and an overplotted, CGI-laden storyline that left viewers feeling dissatisfied. As a result, the movie was expected to have caused a loss for the studios.

Considering the awful flop of the movie, then, why is it that Netflix has chosen to step into the ring and put its own series, based upon Ubisoft’s original games into production, and what can we expect from the latest adaptation? Read more below. 

Going Off the Success of the Gaming Industry

Netflix has seen tremendous success with its adaptation of the seminal video game title, The Witcher – to the extent that its already planning a second season, and a spin off. At a time when the video games industry is seeing more success than the movie industry, we can only imagine that Netflix is looking to conflate the two as much as possible, and to continue on with the triumphs of The Witcher. 

This is a great decision – if they can make it work. From Triple-A titles to online slots for desktop and mobile in South Africa, gaming is quickly superseding the movie industry in terms of creativity, excitement, and its ability to cater to an incredibly diverse audience. 

At a time when many audiences are left feeling as though the superhero genre is dominating cinema, the video game industry has proven its ability to release a staggering variety of titles – all of which appeal to different niches within a global community of gamers. 

It makes sense, then, that production companies may want to consider the popularity – and sheer size – of the gaming industry, and to find ways of mirroring their victories in order to appeal more to wider audiences.

What Can We Expect?

Netflix will have given themselves plenty more scope for creativity by electing to adapt the games into a TV series; the franchise has been releasing titles since 2007, and condensing that into a two hour movie was, admittedly, an ambitious feat – one that failed to pay off in the way that was intended.

If The Witcher is anything to go by, then we can anticipate plenty of adherence to the original source material – both in terms of casting, and the lore of the world itself. Perhaps Netflix will learn from the mistakes of the Assassin’s Creed movie and avoid going too far down the CGI road in order to keep fans happy. 

The writers will have plenty of choice when it comes to time and place. Since the birth of the gaming series, fans have travelled from Ancient Egypt and Greece to the Italian Renaissance and, most recently, the Viking invasion of Britain. There has also been plenty of action set in the modern day, which will allow for plenty of variety in each episode – and plenty of additional series, if Netflix can avoid the self-destruct button they have fallen prey to for so many series that came before.

Thus far, we have not been offered any definitive answers about its cast or release date, but, in all likelihood, we can expect to see the series hitting our screens sometime in 2022.