Henry Cavill & Amazon Team Up On Warhammer 40K Series [Updated]
December 16, 2022 by brennon
Henry Cavill is reportedly closing in on a deal alongside Amazon to produce a Warhammer 40,000 series. It's been long rumoured that there was something happening behind the scenes and it seems like now, the future is grimdark.
Full Press Release From Games Workshop
According to the Hollywood Reporter, the talks have been going on for some time and Amazon has been through months of negotiations and fending off other companies to get their hands on the rights. The deal has yet to be closed but it seems like it's going to end up becoming a reality in the near future.
It looks like Cavill is going to be starring and executive producing whatever show ends up coming out of this deal and whilst there are no writers or showrunners mentioned yet, it seems like Vertigo Entertainment are going to be coming on board as well.
"I have loved Warhammer since I was boy, making this moment truly special for me. The opportunity to shepherd this cinematic universe from its inception is quite the honour and the responsibility,” said Henry Cavill. “I couldn’t be more grateful for all the hard work put in by Vertigo, Amazon and Games Workshop to make this happen. One step closer to making a nigh-on lifelong dream come true."
Cavill has long talked about his love for Warhammer 40,000 and the work on his Adeptus Custodes army. You wouldn't have guessed from the images he posts showing what he's reading or the interviews where he's talked about the grimdark future.
Will we see that long-awaited Eisenhorn series with Cavill at the helm? Perhaps it will focus on a different part of the 40K universe? I certainly think sticking to Inquisitors and investigations on Imperial worlds is the best way to go for now!
Now, if he can just get fellow Warhammer fan and actor Rahul Kohli (Midnight Mass, The Haunting Of Bly Manor) in the mix, I think I would be very happy indeed.
What do you make of the news?
"Will we see that long-awaited Eisenhorn series with Cavill at the helm?"
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I…
Well.
How to put it?
I don’t think it’ll work.
If they get it right and tell a good story focused on the Imperium to start with, I think it will land. It has to do a lot of background/lore work for new folks but doing it as some kind of Inquisitorial investigation would make it work in line with detective shows and the like. AND, not too many special effects etc – at least not for the characters. You’ve got to hope the budget is right for this or it is going to look very, very odd. There is always the case that they might do it as an… Read more »
Yeah, I think they defo need to start small and build up from there. You cannot just launch into the Horus Heresey! (as much as I would love them to).
Cavill has done a great job with The Witcher – even if he is performance was ripped straight from the video games (something himself has mentioned).
I am up for this!
Plus @brennon Midnight Mass was excellent, nice to see that get out a shout out!
Rahul Kholi is quite the skilled painter by the looks of it!
Yeah, Rahul has done some epic stuff and he only started sort of this year! And you are correct, Midnight Mass is epic 🙂
Only this year? I hope he is lying! ha ha – I have been painting on and off for 32 years and I am not as good as him – the big JERK! lol
Inclined to agree @sundancer, I think there’s too many commercial interests at play
Rahul Kohli recently did an interview with Nerdist’s Dan Casey, also a Warhammer fan.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6di-yx0L4QY
On the one hand, exciting because it’s Henry Cavill and he loves 40k. On the other hand it’s Amazon and I saw Rings of Power (or the first couple of episodes)… Definitely one for the gamblers
I’m intrigued by the note that this is to develop multiple shows based around 40k. I have to echo several of those I’ve seen posting about this that a Henry Cavill-lead Eisenhorn series could have some legs to it.
Cautiously optimistic I think is the phrasing I’d use here.
It’ll be very interesting to see how much of the inherent awfulness of 40k they will have to remove to make it watchable for the wider public, because I doubt they will want a show with nothing but villains in it (which is basically imperium vs anyone else)
40k does have good guys. They are called Farsight Enclave. Sure they are xenos and not human but still.
Yeah, no. Also barely counts, they’re a sub-faction within the real faction, might as well say the Imperium is the good guys cause Salamanders are nice to imperial civilians.
Important difference between those two is that Salamanders are still part of Imperium while Farsight Enclaves are they own faction separate from Tau Empire doing they own thing.
Well, with Henry Cavill being in complete charge of things, at least it will not be a disaster like Rings of Power. Henry knows and loves the lore and will respect it.
The universe has plenty of political intrigue like Game of Thrones so it has potential. There have been plenty of novels so there is great source material, the only trick is how to make it appealing to fans and general audiences.
I do not expect to see anything to hit the screen until 2025.
Problem is, will he be given complete control? I seriously doubt it
It would be cool if it went ahead and we got something we all liked, but I’m not holding my breath until I see something. Hype can be exhausting sometimes.
Oh I am really excited about this one considering that Henry Cavill is huge 40k fan.
It’s Amazon and GW. Man, I want to believe that *this time* it’ll be done right, with respect for the source, but…I guess we’ll see.
Self-insert characters, updates for “modern audiences,” the hubris of studio heads, the lack of talented writers, complete disregard for canon, aggressive disrespect towards fans…the list goes on.
If they’re smart, they’ll put their egos aside and let this thing really work and become something great. But, thes big studios have got a long way to go to get back into fans’ good graces, if that’s even possible to do at this point.
Again, we’ll see…
*Thinking cap on, healthy cup of cynicism ready, brows furrowed, hopeful.* Given the recent shitshow that blew up with The Witcher and his acting as a fan in trying to salvage the series from the writing staff he might well do his best to try and remain loyal to the material that makes it appealing to the fandom. As far as celebrity name recognition it’ll be good for the brand and sales. Eventhough long ago D&D had Vin Diesel write the intro to the 3rd ed. PHB it wasn’t as strong an endorsement until people watched the likes of Critical… Read more »
Given that Amazon turned down Conan the flipping Barbarian because it was considered “too toxic” opting for the Wheel of Time instead, I can’t really see an Amazon/40k partnership being anything other than a shitshow that will see Cavill eventually walk away. Pessimistic? Cynical? Absolutely. But look at literally every other major franchise right now
A setting as racist, xenophobic, bloodthirsty and fascist as 40k on Amazon…
Not gonna work.
Death by snowflake avalanche.?
Get the producers of South Park to run the show.
It will work as long as they show that the blood thirty warlike fascism is a mistake, a misinterpretation of the original plan or a means to keep the imperium’s elite in power. I think the idea of a few decent people trying to get by in a carnivorous galaxy is a good way to go. The Space Marines should be shown in this light too. Trying their best to interpret their purpose. How far do they go to protect humanity? Which way is best?
Soooo, basically use the show to moralise and to draw some kind of parallel to the modern world. That’s exactly the kind of writing that will turn the 40k fans against it. A far more interesting story would be to create a grey, morale dilemma about the existence and nature of the Imperium. How it is both terrible and cruel whilst at the same time showing why it must exist the way it does. Show how the sheer number of threats it faces and wars it is engaged in mean there is no place for our values of freedom and… Read more »
Sounds good but the Amazon link is a worrying development in my opinion.
Will I am pleased to hear this going to happen I think its 50/50 if its going to be any good, its going to be difficult to please the 40k fans and those who have never heard of it.
Maybe they could pick a time period before the heresy (a bit like they did with rings of power, I haven’t watched it so I don’t have option on it) maybe focus on something only briefly mentioned elsewhere?
This could be good, despite Amazon – Reacher and Terminal List were both great shows, so Amazon doesn’t entirely do woke crap. Cavill in charge with Dan Abnett writing and doing some sort of Inquisitor storyline (Eisenhorn would be good, be doing something new could be interesting) to get things started would make a great TV show if they can nail the tone
Sadly, it does “woke crap” with the big IPs.
Oh you poor insecure man for feeling threatened by this imaginary “woke” what ever it is.
It’s not imaginary, it’s definitely real. Just because you like that shit doesn’t mean that it’s not crap
You are definitely right there. It is in our faces – I still weep for Star Trek. Also I do not think you are ‘insecure’ for expressing an opinion.
Part of me thinks they’d be better off if they did a whole new story in the 40k-verse rather than an existing tale like Eisenhorn. That way if it doesn’t match fans of the existing tale’s expectations then at least they should still be stoked to see 40k on film. While I do like Dan Abnett’s writing the Ultramarines movie narrative was a bit paint by numbers, though how much his writing was changed I don’t know. Perhaps the best way of doing a 40k show that I can think of is to make it lots of different stories that… Read more »
I don’t think they should go live action, I think the constraints will be to high or they will need a lot of money to do it right.
And where to start, could be boring for seasoned people in the lore or to daunting for new people.
Also what lore are they going to follow, you already can see novels that contradict each other and huge swings in capabilities of races. Plus people get offended so easily these days that it could go down hill very fast.
They need to get the tone right on this, show that the Imperium is a fascist dystopia, and that the ruling elite have got it wrong. If they show it as heroically striving to fend off the predations of the Galaxy and that totalitarianism is the only way then they will be sending the wrong message to the wrong people and disrespecting the original tone of the setting.
I like Cavill but following the disastrous Amazon interpretations of Wheel of Time and Rings of Power I wouldn’t be holding my breath for this. Expect gender, racial and sexual politics to be shoehorned in to “reflect” the modern world we all live in according to certain very outspoken ideologues
As oppose to outspoken ideologies that you have. It just shows how much obsessed you are over what you (wrongly) think to be politics that you always have need to bring it up and act like everyone who doesn’t share your views is wrong and evil which is very much narrow minded outlook.
Sorry?
He means your comment is clearly displaying your own ideologies, that there is some sort of “woke” agenda ruining everything, and will likely ruin this new 40k adaptation, whilst criticizing others for their ideologies. Don’t you think that if everyone thinks completely different things then everyone must be wrong and the truth is somewhere in the middle?
Generally speaking no. It’s not so much that everyone thinks different things, there are two camps and both camps actually agree about what is actually happening in modern media. However one side likes it and the other doesn’t. There isn’t really a middle ground for binary choices and that’s really what this is. A binary choice between whether you think that the woke/inclusive/diverse/progressive/call-it-what-you-want tick boxes are enough to make something worth watching or not. Because generally speaking, that’s about the only thing almost every major franchise now has going for it. The writing is almost universally, objectively bad but shows… Read more »
He doesn’t assume wrongly. It’s there and it’s pretty much admitted by the writers and show runners. Only a fool would deny it’s existence when the people making the shows are so open about and, indeed, they LEAD with it when they’re interviewed about their show. They talk far more about the diversity boxes they tick than about the stories they write.
@solar is definitely right. There is an ideological based struggle happening in the entertainment industry to subvert the culture. Remember that culture is downstream from politics and this is how they operate. The woke agenda exists, to deny it is silly, naïve and ridiculous. The evidence is all around and it begins in the writers room where they recruit people of like minded ideology instead of talent. The obvious example is the American comic book industry which is kept alive solely by their parent companies. They no longer make comics that sell but comics that lecture – and what they… Read more »
I have heard every single argument you put forward, word for word, and I disagree with every single point you make. What you see as “woke agenda” is nothing more than corporations trying to find an audience, connect with their customers and often getting it wrong. What you call neo Marxism I see as marginalised groups trying to increase their visibility so they aren’t marginalised any more. What you think is woke hijacking I see as made up by the existing political system trying to resist and dismiss a new demographic that may alter their power base. This is media.… Read more »
Hi moonunit, thanks for taking the time to comment. I wont go into detail about what you wrote, since this is not the forum for it, but your concept of ‘woke agenda’ is very wishy-washy if you think it is a corporation exercise. Your idea of marginalization is also not what is happening in the industry, you are highly misinformed. You need to understand why Marvel comics publishes comics without making a profit. Once you do that things will become clearer. You also need to understand that Marvel is owned by Disney, and Disney of today is not conservative –… Read more »
I don’t really see how something as huge as the Middle Earth license can be “trying to find an audience”. It had one ready made but it’s mostly pissed that away. They’re looking for an audience that doesn’t really exist whilst chasing their natural audience away. Same goes for Star Wars and so many others
I’m so excited about it!
But he’s got high hopes, he’s got high hopes
He’s got high apple pie, in the sky hopes
Just thought about it a bit following the announcement. Think it can be done if they do Eisenhorn or something similar. It allows for exposition and character building while the story (effectively a detective series) being familiar enough for most people to get into/understand.
Whether or not the show “works” or “is true” to the setting, I expect this show will be a big hit, and THAT’S what worries me. Unpopular take, but we do NOT need a dystopian series right now. I live in a province controlled by antivax nutjobs who are trying to separate from the rest of Canada, AND they’ve been sabotaging the public healthcare system to privatize it, THROUGHOUT the pandemic. There are people all over my country and the States spreading hate and calling for violence (and several of these people are in government offices). There are power stations… Read more »