Henry Cavill's Warhammer 40K Show Is Happening

Long rumoured, the Henry Cavill fronted Warhammer 40K TV show is apparently officially a go at Amazon.

Amazon acquired the rights 2 years ago to produce a TV show based on Games Workshop's Warhammer 40,000 game. Deadline is reporting, and Cavill himself confirming, that the series is now officially in production.

WH40K is the most popular miniature wargame in the world. Originally published in 1987, it is on its 10th edition. Set in the far future, it mixes fantasy tropes with sci-fi in a grim, dark universe. It has spawned multiple tabletop roleplaying games, such as Dark Heresy, Rogue Trader, and more, the current lineup being publishing by Cubicle 7.

According to the deal made 2 yeasr ago, Amazon had until December 2024 to mutually agree on “creative guidelines for the films and television series to be developed by Amazon”. There is no showrunner yet. The show will also be produced by Vertigo Entertainment.

To celebrate some Warhammer news, I decided to make a pilgrimage to the very first place I bought Warhammer models over 30 years ago....the Little Shop, on my home island of Jersey!

My incredible team and I, alongside the brilliant minds at Games Workshop, have been working away in concept rooms, breaking down approaches to the enormity and magnificence of the Warhammer world. Together, we've been sifting through the plethora of incredible characters and poring over old tomes and texts. Our combined efforts have led us to a fantastic place to start our Universe, which has been agreed upon by those up on high at both Amazon and Games Workshop. That starting place shall, for now, remain a secret. Watch this space, though—more to come in time!

- Henry Cavill​

 

[Scribe]

The imperium isn’t evil, it just doesn’t doesn’t have the scope to care.

Genocidal, Racist, Child Soldiers, Genetic Manipulation, Institutions based on Torture of its own citizens, harvesting its population to sacrifice in bulk. In no definition I am aware of is the Imperium not the most evil of the setting.

 

[Ruin Explorer]

Henry Cavill is great and I think we have a good shot at a quality adaptation with him involved. I want to see Mike Flanagan join the team.

That's a left-field idea but I think he'd do a great job if he has any interest in 40K at all, he definitely would get the religious and cultic aspects, as well as being incredibly good at the horror and characters.

 

[Ruin Explorer]

Genocidal, Racist, Child Soldiers, Genetic Manipulation, Institutions based on Torture of its own citizens, harvesting its population to sacrifice in bulk. In no definition I am aware of is the Imperium not the most evil of the setting.

Yeah and that's almost the superficial elements - what's kind of worse in a way is their complete acceptance of theocratic "managed decline", which was, ironically, exactly what the Emperor didn't want to happen (strongly suggesting he really is very dead, not a quasi-Chaos god as some have suggested), and binding the fate of countless trillions to this managed decline, intentionally rejecting modernity and progress and improvement (with rare exceptions like the Primaris program and Guilliman, but that's really more about one of the more recent changes, largely post-7th, recasting the Space Marines as not "true believers" for the most part, as they once were, but more hard-nosed in their beliefs re: the Emperor's divinity and the Imperium as a whole, yet also potentially compassionate). Try and make things better and the Imperium will nuke your planet on the off-chance you might fall to Chaos for failing to follow the same failed, decaying, hatefully theocratic template as the rest of the Imperium (which has shown very little ability to resist falling to Chaos, one might note!).

 

[Scribe]

the Primaris program and Guilliman, but that's really more about one of the more recent changes, largely post-7th, recasting the Space Marines as not "true believers"

GW really lost the plot a few times since I think it was 6th with how they portrayed Marines re: Faith/Emperor Divinity. I much prefered the hard split between Marines/Sisters in that regard.

The Primaris lore, I wish was cast into the sun.

 

[TheSword]

Not caring = evil

But the Empire goes well beyond not caring. It actively promotes racism for a start.

Evil isn’t a very helpful word for exactly this reason.

The scale of the imperium, a billion worlds, with a million potential threats that would rip it apart from the inside out means that there is a serious amount of xenophobia. That’s a different sin to real world racism.

It’s the same way that Inquisitors are claimed to be evil because they torture and execute people. Sometimes entire planets. However the premise of the setting is that witches are one of the greatest threats to life as they know it. An existential threat to humanity. In the light of that threat, what is an overreaction?

Like all good settings there are good people and terrible people and lots more in between. The premise of the universe is set up pretty explicitly though. In the forty first millennium there is only war.

 

[TheSword]

Genocidal, Racist, Child Soldiers, Genetic Manipulation, Institutions based on Torture of its own citizens, harvesting its population to sacrifice in bulk. In no definition I am aware of is the Imperium not the most evil of the setting.

Answered in my previous post. There is an existential threat.

The imperium is unfair, forlorn, hopeless and grinding. Evil is a word suitable for children and D&D.

 

[soviet]

No, the Imperium is evil. Even if genocide and industrialised torture are the only way for humanity to survive, doing those things is still evil.

Note that various parts of the settting suggest it is not essential for humanity to survive. The old Star Child fluff says that if the Emperor were to finally die, in fact he would be reborn in a more powerful form that would allow him to protect humanity more effectively. Also some of the alien races such as Tau or Craftworld Eldar are to some extent reasonable people that could sometimes be worked with effectively, if not for all the xenophobic dogma.

 

[Scribe]

Answered in my previous post. There is an existential threat.

The imperium is unfair, forlorn, hopeless and grinding. Evil is a word suitable for children and D&D.

No, there is still right and wrong, there is still 'good' and 'evil' and by any definition the Imperium is the most evil, why?

Because its Humanity, subjecting itself, knowingly, willfully, to the same or worse than any other faction in the setting.

 

[gban007]

No, the Imperium is evil. Even if genocide and industrialised torture are the only way for humanity to survive, doing those things is still evil.

Note that various parts of the settting suggest it is not essential for humanity to survive. The old Star Child fluff says that if the Emperor were to finally die, in fact he would be reborn in a more powerful form that would allow him to protect humanity more effectively. Also some of the alien races such as Tau or Craftworld Eldar are to some extent reasonable people that could sometimes be worked with effectively, if not for all the xenophobic dogma.

There were also a number of other races and groups of humanity living quite well during the Great Crusade without any of the genocide / torture being needed, until the Imperium caught up to them.
Also the Inquisition wasn't formed in response to general psykers that were already present, as they were dealt with more easily, it was only after the self inflicted Horus Heresy that Chaos became more of a threat (especially thanks to the Legions that fell to Chaos and their followers) that the Inquisition formed in response to the greater danger.
Following the Horus Heresy up until the War of the Beast things were relatively stable / peaceful, but they still did plenty of conquest / genocide / sacrifice in that time anyway. It is only more recently that the Necrons / Tyranids started appearing, so don't excuse the Imperiums behavior up until that point.
Now there are plenty of people in the Imperium who I think are good, but the Imperium itself is evil.

 

[gban007]

Answered in my previous post. There is an existential threat.

The imperium is unfair, forlorn, hopeless and grinding. Evil is a word suitable for children and D&D.

Maybe I'm a child at heart, but I consider even today there are plenty of people and things that people are doing that are evil, let alone all the evil tgat happened in the 20th century.