Netflix's new series The Witcher, based on the popular video game series, indicates there's a strong market for live action series based on beloved games. While many studios have tried (and largely failed) with film adaptations, streaming television services tend to be a more forgiving medium. Budgets are typically smaller, and with that, productions are lower-risk than films, which seek recouped costs with large-scale theatrical releases. To date, TV networks have aired a handful of shows based on video games, primarily targeted toward kids or anime audiences. However, there’s been little in the way of live-action television adaptations of games for primarily adult audiences.
But with the success of Netflix’s The Witcher, and with significant hype around a forthcoming Halo series set to air on Showtime, it's time to adapt more fan favorite games to streaming TV.
The Legend of Zelda
There’s no game franchise more ripe for a live-action television show than The Legend of Zelda. The series has more than enough material to adapt into an episodic program as Link explores all of Hyrule. Through quests, puzzles and beautiful storytelling, it would be surreal to tune into Netflix to watch our protagonist set out to take on Ganon over several seasons.
The internet is full of rumors of a live-action Legend of Zelda project on Netflix, but the majority of those appear to be based on speculation and rumors that turned out to be false. The most recent rumor claimed Castlevania producer Adi Shankar would be helming the series, but the project in question was acutally one based on Devil May Cry.
In the modern era of storytelling, a well-done cinemagraphic companion show would allow bring the stories of the Legend of Zelda series to new generations while giving the longtime fans a chance to relive the gaming experiences that transformed their childhood.
Apex Legends
An evolution of the characters and scenarios set up in the Titanfall series, this lore-rich battle royale features a diverse cast of characters with unique motivations and backstories. The Apex Games bring them together as they form teams of three to fight to become the Apex Champions. Their fight for glory is full of sci-fi action, spy operations, mystery and mystique. While there’s plenty to explore in Bloodhound’s dark past or the life-altering experiences that led Bangalore to join the Apex Games, we’d also be happy with a sitcom exploring Mirage’s search for love... and the perfect pork chop recipe.
Call of Duty: Zombies
It would be fascinating to see Destiny on the small screen, as there are a myriad of storylines that explore different planets and realities. Like the games, a show could explore these narratives from the perspective of a Guardian. Different seasons could reflect the events of different expansions (I'd love more than anything to see a made-for-TV retelling of the events from the original Destiny's The Taken King expansion).
There’s so much to unpack in this series that Destiny lore expert Byf suggested focusing on a single character’s story would be a better way to explore this deep, impactful narrative. That works for us, as long the one who gets his own show is the Hunter Vanguard we lost in Forsaken, Cayde-6 (press F to pay respects).
Call of Duty: Zombies
The Call of Duty games generally showcase immersive and intruging storytelling. The Modern Warfare series is, as a whole, clever and unpredictable, giving players the types of moments that cause their stomachs to sink or that bring tears to their eyes. Black Ops does this as well, doing so with creative weaponry that allows for diversity in gameplay.
But The Walking Dead proved the world loves a good zombie show. A game series like CoD: Zombies provides a ton of material, which someone like J.J. Abrams could helm with a mix of suspense and terror that people have come to love. And, while not always extremely coherent, the intersecting timelines and high-stakes decisions that comprised the Aether timeline are worthy of a spot on Netflix’s programming slate.
Overwatch
Blizzard Entertainment has done an incredible job of crafting a narrative around Overwatch and its characters, one that we can only expect to get even better with the forthcoming Overwatch 2.
Not only can we envision Overwatch as a Netflix TV show, but we view it as its own universe like Marvel's. As Disney+ is already set to release four shows based on Marvel characters in 2021 and has several more on its slate, there’s no reason the Overwatch characters couldn’t provide the framework for an intertwined series of characters whose lives intersect. Building on the cinematics that made fans fall in love with Overwatch’s characters, a series of TV shows could explore these characters and their roles in depth. To that end, Overwatch’s dramatic interpretation of the role of artificial intelligence in the future is worthy of exploration as the dangers of AI begin to manifest in modern society.
Dragon Age
As The Witcher and Game of Thrones have already demonstrated the public’s excitement over the fantasy television genre, there’s no better time than now to bring Dragon Age to Netflix.
Prior to an era of Netflix deals and streaming opportunties, actress Felicia Day helmed a Dragon Age webseries, which recieved mixed reviews. But now that people are consuming media in new ways, it could be worth it to try again on a bigger scale with seasoned fantasy genre writers and bigger budgets.
Set in a universe that people frequently compare to that of The Witcher anyway, it’s draws on a hero’s journey where factions, decisions and relationships all contribute to a broader narrative. While it would no doubt be difficult to sum up the events of Dragon Age into hour-long episodes over the course of a few seasons, there’s so much material in this universe worthy of exploration. Especially when it comes to addressing the role of religion and issues such as class oppression within a modern context, a Dragon Age show could help facilitate understanding today's conflicts.