The Assassin’s Creed franchise is one of the most popular in video games, and so it makes some sense that it would be one of the titles that production companies look to for potential adaptation. The attempt to turn the games into a film franchise faltered out of the gate, but Netflix has been attempting to take another shot with an unrelated Assassin’s Creed series. But if you’ve been wondering why we haven’t heard much about the show, it’s because it apparently lost its showrunner.
Jeb Stuart, the screenwriter behind Die Hard and the producer of Vikings: Valhalla was set to write the new Assassin’s Creed series and act as showrunner, and as recently as last September, Stuart was apparently still on board. However, in a recent interview with Collider, Stuart revealed that he’s no longer involved with the series. He explained…
I think it was a little bit of a move of executives from LA to London, and it allowed the London group who, unfortunately, had to inherit my vision of what it was instead of getting to develop their own vision. So I think that's fair. I know it's going to be great whenever it comes out. I think the Ubisoft guys are fantastic. I think it's a terrific franchise. It was just a good, mutual time to move on for both sides.
It was back in October of 2020 when it was first announced that Netflix had partnered with game publisher Ubisoft to create a new series based on Assassin’s Creed. The game follows a collection of different characters who are part of centuries old battle between an order of assassins and the Knights Templar. The franchise also includes a science fiction element, as the stories are generally told via modern day characters experiencing the “genetic memory” of characters from the past.
Over two years later, the series was still described as being in “early” development even this past fall, and now, it sounds like things have taken another step backward. Whatever work Jeb Stuart had already done is apparently being either tossed completely or significantly reworked, as there are now new people running the show.
Having said that, Jeb Stuart says that he believes the show will still be great though clearly he has no expectation that the show is going to be coming out anytime soon. Still, it’s clearly very much an active project, so it seems likely the show will still happen, even if we’ll be waiting at least a couple more years to see it.
Fans of Assassin’s Creed will almost certainly be willing to wait, especially if it means that the new show will be worth it. The film starring Michael Fassbender failed to engage any audience, including die hard fans, so hopes are high that Netflix will figure this one out.
