Netflix Greenlights Live-Action Assassin's Creed Series

In 2020, Ubisoft and Netflix announced an agreement to develop content based on the Assassin's Creed franchise. Five years later, the first live-action series has officially been confirmed.

Netflix has given the green light to a live-action series based on the Assassin's Creed video game franchise, which was launched by Ubisoft in 2007 and has sold over 230 million units to date. Roberto Patino (DMZ, Westworld, Sons of Anarchy) and David Wiener (Halo, Homecoming, The Killing) have been confirmed as the series' creators, showrunners, and executive producers. The other executive producers are Gerard Guillemot, Margaret Boykin, Austin Dill (all from Ubisoft Film & Television) and Matt O'Toole.

"We are so excited to work alongside Roberto, David, and our Netflix partners to bring this beloved franchise to series," said Margaret Boykin, executive producer and head of content at Ubisoft Film & Television. "We look forward to delivering an experience that speaks to the heart of what fans love about Assassin's Creed, while introducing its unforgettable worlds and timeless themes to new audiences worldwide."

The series, which is the first to be produced under Netflix's agreement with Ubisoft for the Assassin's Creed franchise, has been in development for almost five years. Described as a "high-octane thriller", the series centres on a secret war between two factions: one determined to control and manipulate humanity's future, and the other fighting to preserve free will. It follows characters as they battle to shape humanity's destiny across pivotal historical events.

This is not the first time the franchise has been adapted (Assassin's Creed). A film based on the video game series was released in 2016, directed by Justin Kurzel. With a budget of $125 million, the film grossed nearly $241 million worldwide.

"We've been fans of Assassin's Creed since its release 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," said Wiener and Patino 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, across cultures, across time. And it's about what we stand to lose as a species, when those connections break. We've got an amazing team behind us with the folks at Ubisoft and our champions at Netflix, and we're committed to creating something undeniable for fans all over the planet."

This autumn, Netflix will also be home to Splinter Cell: Deathwatch, an animated espionage television series. Other major gaming adaptations by Netflix include Castlevania, Cyberpunk: Edgerunners and Arcane.

"When we first announced our partnership with Ubisoft in 2020, we set out with an ambitious goal to bring the rich, expansive world of Assassin's Creed to life in bold new ways," said Peter Friedlander, Netflix's Vice President, Scripted Series. "Now, after years of dedicated collaboration, it's inspiring to see just how far that vision has come. Guided by the deft hands of Roberto Patino and David Wiener, the team has carefully crafted an epic adventure that both honors the legacy of the Assassin's Creed franchise and invites longtime fans and newcomers alike to experience the thrill of the Brotherhood as never before."

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