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]

If you can't see a tonal difference between 3rd and 10th, then that's on you. It's a fact, and it's something GW themselves have actually alluded to.

Starting with 3rd does explain why you seem to be completely unaware 2nd even existed though!

I am aware of 2nd edition.

As to the tonal difference between 3rd and 10th, would it be this video that illustrates an empire on its last legs, living on propaganda and religious hysteria, while being eaten alive by bugs?

 

[theBardic life]

This is great news, I've kind of been suprised that GW has not had a lot of non-book media out before. They are a colossus of minis and the company is about 25 years older than me, lol. The animated series Hammer and Bolter was super cool and makes me want to read more of the books, I imagine this show will work well on current fans and hopefully bring in some new ones.

 

[Levistus's_Leviathan]

I think a 40k show could absolutely work, but the genre of the show and writing need to be right. A satire in line with Starship Troopers could absolutely work. Or a dark comedy like Jojo Rabbit. Andor is definitely a great series to look to as an example of a modern show that does a good job at portraying the inner workings of a fascist sci-fi society.

But something like the 40k Secret Level episode would absolutely not work. Granted, the episode was too short to establish the world or characters at all, but in the fiction of that episode, the Space Marines are the good guys. Unquestioned protagonists. The whole episode was them killing the forces of evil while looking cool. If the TV show is an action/adventure series along those lines of a Space Marine protagonist traveling the galaxy killing Demons and Xenos and heroically defending humanity, I will not watch it. That would be a bad adaptation and a bad story. A 40k series needs to make it very clear to the audience just how evil the Imperium is. The Space Marines should not be the good guys. The audience should not be rooting for them, not that there’s really anyone to “root for” in the 40k universe. Maybe the T’au, depending on how they portray them.

Like, the Imperium of Man is a terrible fascist regime, but it exists in a setting where the core points of fascist propaganda are objectively true. There are dark cultists that infiltrate human society and try to destroy it from the inside (Chaos and Genestealer cults). Humanity was ruled by the ubermensch God-Emperor who came right during humanity’s time of need to save them from utter annihilation. A great empire was entirely destroyed because they became sexually deviant hedonists (Aeldari Empire). People are sacrificed to evil gods in satanic rituals (by Dark Eldar). There are groups of sentient creatures that deserve to be eradicated (Tyranids, Demons).

The show has to make it clear that all the factions are mandated to be awful. It’s a war game taking place in a setting that guarantees endless wars. There is no one to root for, and the problem is audiences love rooting for the protagonist. I wish the writers luck. Hopefully the end result is a good show while also being a good adaptation.

 

[Scribe]

Humanity was ruled by the ubermensch God-Emperor who came right during humanity’s time of need to save them from utter annihilation.

And that Emperor damned them. (Its the point of the Horus Heresy series, just fumbled by any number of the authors of said monolithic waste of money.)

 

[Paul Farquhar]

But something like the 40k Secret Level episode would absolutely not work. Granted, the episode was too short to establish the world or characters at all, but in the fiction of that episode, the Space Marines are the good guys. Unquestioned protagonists. The whole episode was them killing the forces of evil while looking cool. If the TV show is an action/adventure series along those lines of a Space Marine protagonist traveling the galaxy killing Demons and Xenos and heroically defending humanity, I will not watch it. That would be a bad adaptation and a bad story. A 40k series needs to make it very clear to the audience just how evil the Imperium is. The Space Marines should not be the good guys. The audience should not be rooting for them, not that there’s really anyone to “root for” in the 40k universe. Maybe the T’au, depending on how they portray them.

Absolutely. Instead of an obviously-evil-because-it's-ugly demon, the short should have ended with the marines fighting a little girl with psychic powers.

 

[cbaratz]

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.

 

[TheSword]

I've read exactly one 40k book, one of the Gaunt's Ghost books by Dan Abnett, who is supposed to be one of the better writers, and while it wasn't the worst book I've ever read, it didn't inspire me to read more. i.e. I've got better things to do with my time. It isn't that the books aren't grim darkity dark, dark enough, it's that there's a disconnect between a lot of the 40k setting lore and how Space Marines and even Sisters of Battle are presented as heroic paragons of virtue to make sure parents are comfortable with their adolescent boys spending their allowances on 40k.

Gaunts Ghosts novels were some of the first full length novels he’d written. Up to that point he’d mainly done comic books. The get better and better as the series goes on. Necropolis for instance is a great novel.

It’s the Eisenhorn and Ravenor trilogies that reallly blow my socks off. Such awesome stories. Looking forward to the last book of the Bequin trilogy that completes the cycle.

On a side note he lived in the same town as me and used to sign his works every so often to support our FLGS. Lovely guy.

On a second side note, the Horus Heresy books portray the Space Marines to be anything but paragons of virtue. They were prone to all the flaws that normal humans have. Except maybe cowardice.

 

[trappedslider]

 

[TheSword]

I think it will be very hard for a W40k story not to feature space marines. They’re by far the most recognizable, distinctive and popular element of the setting.

If I were to put money down on it I would suspect a two or three part story. Featuring a space marine, a human agent of the imperium (arbites or inquisition agent) and a hive scrub drone in some menial position in the gigantic administratum. Similarly to how Fallout dealt with things.

I don’t think it will be like an early war movie, all hung ho, it will be distopian… and very cool.

People need to get over all this evil imperium nonsense. The imperium isn’t evil, it just doesn’t doesn’t have the scope to care. The one man who did have the vision can’t do anything about it so has to work through psychic proxies. Because of the scale and apathy some individuals can do great evil. But the setting isn’t evil. We leave that for the chaos powers, but even they aren’t truly evil, they’re trying to survive.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

it just doesn’t doesn’t have the scope to care

Not caring = evil

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