Television Update: Henry Cavill looks to star/executive produce Warhammer 40K series for Amazon

[elbobo]

Just a moment...

WWW.WARHAMMER-COMMUNITY.COM

 

seems to be official now 

 

 

[SaysWho?]

[Keyser_Soze]

Is he going to be a space marine or an orc killer?

[elbobo]

My wife just saw the news and texted me about it because she loves her some Henry Cavil, she asked "so what is warhammer about?"

 

I honestly don't even know how to start answering that question and that is going to be the biggest challenge for the show IMO. If they did a Star Wars style opening crawl it would have to be an hour long to lay the barest ground work. The lore is so enormous and frustratingly intentionally vague if not outright contradictory that if someone can actually turn this into a show that people can watch with no primer then pay that person all the money because they have more than earned it.

 

There are really only two time frames to possibly set the series in, either the Great Crusade/Heresy or where in the lore is now at the end 41st millennium(if that is really when things are "currently", spoilers the calendars might be off thousands of years), I would guess they would go with the later must so the show matches the title of the property.

 

Some things are relatively easy, space marines, ok audiences get engineered super soldiers. Orks yeah not much needed there at least at the surface level(unless you want to get into how their tech works) but once you dive into Chaos and the gods and the emperor and most of the other races it gets really muddy real quick.

[Zaku3]

We live in the grim darkess timeline if at some point we don't get Cavill as Karl Franz or Tyrion in WFB.

[CitizenVectron]

1 hour ago, elbobo said:

My wife just saw the news and texted me about it because she loves her some Henry Cavil, she asked "so what is warhammer about?"

 

I honestly don't even know how to start answering that question and that is going to be the biggest challenge for the show IMO. If they did a Star Wars style opening crawl it would have to be an hour long to lay the barest ground work. The lore is so enormous and frustratingly intentionally vague if not outright contradictory that if someone can actually turn this into a show that people can watch with no primer then pay that person all the money because they have more than earned it.

 

There are really only two time frames to possibly set the series in, either the Great Crusade/Heresy or where in the lore is now at the end 41st millennium(if that is really when things are "currently", spoilers the calendars might be off thousands of years), I would guess they would go with the later must so the show matches the title of the property.

 

Some things are relatively easy, space marines, ok audiences get engineered super soldiers. Orks yeah not much needed there at least at the surface level(unless you want to get into how their tech works) but once you dive into Chaos and the gods and the emperor and most of the other races it gets really muddy real quick.

 

Funny enough, 40k does have an opening crawl for this reason:

 

It is the 41st Millennium. For more than a hundred centuries the Emperor of Mankind has sat immobile on the Golden Throne of Earth. He is the master of mankind by the will of the gods and master of a million worlds by the might of His inexhaustible armies. He is a rotting carcass writhing invisibly with power from the Dark Age of Technology. He is the Carrion Lord of the vast Imperium of Man for whom a thousand souls are sacrificed every day so that He may never truly die.

 

Yet even in His deathless state, the Emperor continues His eternal vigilance. Mighty battlefleets cross the daemon-infested miasma of the Warp, the only route between distant stars, their way lit by the Astronomican, the psychic manifestation of the Emperor's will. Vast armies give battle in His name on uncounted worlds. Greatest amongst His soldiers are the Adeptus Astartes, the Space Marines, bio-engineered super-warriors. Their comrades in arms are legion: the Imperial Guard and countless planetary defence forces, the ever-vigilant Inquisition and the Tech-priests of the Adeptus Mechanicus to name only a few. But for all their multitudes, they are barely enough to hold off the ever-present threat to humanity from aliens, heretics, mutants -- and far, far worse.

 

To be a man in such times is to be one amongst untold billions. It is to live in the cruelest and most bloody regime imaginable. These are the tales of those times. Forget the power of technology and science, for so much has been forgotten, never to be relearned. Forget the promise of progress and understanding, for in the grim dark future there is only war. There is no peace amongst the stars, only an eternity of carnage and slaughter, and the laughter of thirsting gods.

[CitizenVectron]

How do we think they are going to do this, in terms of starting the universe? Obviously the stories take place over thousands of years, so I think they will pull a Rings of Power and condense things to happen all at once. Adapt Horus Heresy first? It's probably the most well-known series. I think that would be a mistake, though. Personally, I'd prefer they adapt the Eisenhorn novels, as it's a good intro into the universe. You see the world from the perspective of an Inquisitor visiting different worlds to investigate crimes against humankind (such as just being born a mutant). You get psychic powers, plasma swords, bolt guns, etc. You can do pretty much anything you want with Eisenhorn.

 

[Greatoneshere]

2 hours ago, elbobo said:

40k is the most unadaptable property to a general audience that I can think of. The breadth, depth and insanity of the lore is unparalleled, combined with the fact there are no good guys at least at the macro level and it will cost an absolute fortune to do live action.

 

This is my biggest concern as well. But even though it's not exactly the same, they pulled it off with the LOTR prequel show, another show that I thought would be too difficult to create real stories out of. I love the crazy world and lore of Warhammer 40k, but this will be a very tough task and the budget will indeed need to be enormous.

[CitizenVectron]

20 minutes ago, Greatoneshere said:

 

This is my biggest concern as well. But even though it's not exactly the same, they pulled it off with the LOTR prequel show, another show that I thought would be too difficult to create real stories out of. I love the crazy world and lore of Warhammer 40k, but this will be a very tough task and the budget will indeed need to be enormous.

 

Effectively, even with a story like Eisenhorn where the POV character is arguably a good guy, it's like setting a detective story in Nazi Germany with a sympathetic cop. Can it be done? Yes. Can it be done easily? No. Unless you really focus on the fact that humanity is corrupt and evil, and that the POV character knows this and does what they can do help people.

 

Unfortunately, the same chuds that hated Rings of Power would also likely hate any 40k story that wasn't explicitly about the mass murder of mutants and agents of chaos.

[elbobo]

14 minutes ago, Greatoneshere said:

 

This is my biggest concern as well. But even though it's not exactly the same, they pulled it off with the LOTR prequel show, another show that I thought would be too difficult to create real stories out of. I love the crazy world and lore of Warhammer 40k, but this will be a very tough task and the budget will indeed need to be enormous.

 

With the rings of power though they had a universe that a general audience was at least familiar with after the LOTR and Hobbit movies, your average person on the street hasn't even heard of 40k. Also middle earth lore is small in comparison to 40k. There are 5-ish books from Tolkien. There are currently 61 books in the Horus Heresy series alone and it isn't even done yet and it is essential a prequel.

[Commissar SFLUFAN]

4 minutes ago, CitizenVectron said:

Effectively, even with a story like Eisenhorn where the POV character is arguably a good guy, it's like setting a detective story in Nazi Germany with a sympathetic cop. Can it be done? Yes. Can it be done easily? No. Unless you really focus on the fact that humanity is corrupt and evil, and that the POV character knows this and does what they can do help people.

 

Like this?

 

The Bernie Gunther Novels of Philip Kerr - BernieGunther.com

BERNIEGUNTHER.COM

 

[Greatoneshere]

20 minutes ago, elbobo said:

 

With the rings of power though they had a universe that a general audience was at least familiar with after the LOTR and Hobbit movies, your average person on the street hasn't even heard of 40k. Also middle earth lore is small in comparison to 40k. There are 5-ish books from Tolkien. There are currently 61 books in the Horus Heresy series alone and it isn't even done yet and it is essential a prequel.

 

Well I did say it wasn't exactly the same! I would love a great adaptation so I'm trying here.  I think what you do is you start somewhere, focus solely on that by selecting a specific genre and tone where you can just make a good show. Perhaps expand it to get to all the cool shit as time goes on after you've slowly explained the world, etc. It's a tall task, no question.

[elbobo]

2 minutes ago, Greatoneshere said:

 

Well I did say it wasn't exactly the same! I would love a great adaptation so I'm trying here.  I think what you do is you start somewhere, focus solely on that by selecting a specific genre and tone where you can just make a good show. Perhaps expand it to get to all the cool shit as time goes on after you've slowly explained the world, etc. It's a tall task, no question.

 

oh I want this to be great too but it seems borderline impossible to do

[skillzdadirecta]

53 minutes ago, CitizenVectron said:

How do we think they are going to do this, in terms of starting the universe? Obviously the stories take place over thousands of years, so I think they will pull a Rings of Power and condense things to happen all at once. Adapt Horus Heresy first? It's probably the most well-known series. I think that would be a mistake, though. Personally, I'd prefer they adapt the Eisenhorn novels, as it's a good intro into the universe. You see the world from the perspective of an Inquisitor visiting different worlds to investigate crimes against humankind (such as just being born a mutant). You get psychic powers, plasma swords, bolt guns, etc. You can do pretty much anything you want with Eisenhorn.

 

Marvel has done a couple of comic series recently set in the Warhammer Universe. The one I read was about Space Marine Marneus Calger and was a pretty decent entry point into the world and lore for someone like me who was aware of the brand but didn't know much about it. Maybe they'll start there? I know Marvel has done at least Two comics series so far in recent years... maybe more. 

[elbobo]

if anyone does want to dive into the lore, I would recommend this youtube channel

 

 

 

[Commissar SFLUFAN]

17 minutes ago, elbobo said:

if anyone does want to dive into the lore, I would recommend this youtube channel

 

 

I'll also endorse Luetin's channel as the best entry point into WH40K lore.

 

I also really like this one as well:

 

 

 

[elbobo]

Just remembered that Amazon is making a Fallout series too. They are going to have two shows with people in power armor battling mutant monsters with weird backwards future tech.

[Kal-El814]

I dunno that you can really do this franchise “justice” with something live action that doesn’t cost an absolute fucking fortune and is remotely true to the lore. I’m sketchy on doing a compelling adaptation of something absolutely dripping in fash to begin with. I guess we’ll see.

[Kal-El814]

Like… what the fuck.

 

Just a moment...

WWW.WARHAMMER-COMMUNITY.COM

 

 

Quote

Warhammer 40,000 is set in the far future, where humanity stands at the edge of what might be its brightest future, or its darkest age.

 

Are you kidding me.

[Commissar SFLUFAN]

42 minutes ago, Kal-El814 said:

Are you kidding me.

 

OLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLO

[Kal-El814]

27 minutes ago, Commissar SFLUFAN said:

 

OLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLO

Humanity’s brightest future is right around the corner! If only if it wasn’t for all those pesky… underhumans. And humans that aren’t genetically perfect. 
 

puhleeeeze

[TwinIon]

Cavil just collecting nerd franchises like they're merit badges.

 

The closest I've come to Warhammer anything is someone explaining the table top game to me, and that wasn't even 40k. Still, if Amazon is going to throw money at some crazy sci-fi universe and cast Cavil, yeah, I can get excited about that.

[Chadatog]

Who wants to bet Cavil is playing Darktide right now.

[Commissar SFLUFAN]

5 minutes ago, Chadatog said:

Who wants to bet Cavil is playing Darktide right now.

 

Either that or painting minis.

[Moa]

It's cool the Cavill is a giant nerd, but I can't help but feel like he's making a name for himself airing his dirty laundry with DC and the Witcher show.

[BloodyHell]

22 hours ago, CitizenVectron said:

 

Effectively, even with a story like Eisenhorn where the POV character is arguably a good guy, it's like setting a detective story in Nazi Germany with a sympathetic cop. Can it be done? Yes. Can it be done easily? No. Unless you really focus on the fact that humanity is corrupt and evil, and that the POV character knows this and does what they can do help people.

 

Unfortunately, the same chuds that hated Rings of Power would also likely hate any 40k story that wasn't explicitly about the mass murder of mutants and agents of chaos.

Lol. Do you know Eisenhorns history?

I would hesitate to call any figure of the imperium a good guy. The universe doesn’t have good guys, that’s very much the point. Eisenhorn is just as likely to call for Exterminatus as any other Inquisitor. To call an Inquisitor, of all people, a good guy shows a fundamental misunderstanding of Warhammer 40k in general. 
 

There are far better stories to tell. Horus Heresy would be great, but impossible to tell as a whole. Plus, thats a 30k property, not 40k. Apparently this is specifically 40k. 
 

but if you’re doing 40k for the first time, you definitely make a Space Marine as the main character, not an inquisitor who the vast majority of the world outside lore fans and players would never recognize. Most people have at least seen a space marine before . 

[BloodyHell]

On 11/2/2022 at 10:21 AM, Zaku3 said:

 

Hey Warhammer is expensive. We have old world coming out next year or at some point in the future. Warhammer Horus Heresy launched this year and hey he might want to make all 18 legions. Mos def wants to expand his Custodes force for a Talons of the Emperor army.

Damn, I can’t wsit for old world! As a WFB fanboy, I want a rank and flank Fantasy game so bad. 
 

On 12/16/2022 at 6:46 AM, Brick said:

I do feel bad that he was never given a chance to show what he could do with an actual well written script for Superman and Clark Kent. 

this! The problem with those movies was never him.

 

its like people who blame whedon for OG justice league. He didn’t shoot the movie. He was given a 10lb bag of shit, and told to make it a brighter, shinier 5lb bag of shit. It’s all on snyder.

[Kal-El814]

Just confirmation that nothing's actually been signed yet.

 

Games Workshop still in talks with Amazon over Warhammer film and TV deal, as it reports slowing profits - Business Live

WWW.BUSINESS-LIVE.CO.UK

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Back in December the Hollywood Reporter said Henry Cavill would star in and executive produce an adaptation

 

I I really wonder what's going on with Cavill and his representation / communication. There seem to be a lot of issues lately.