The Deeper Meaning Behind Assassin’s Creed’s Parkour and Blades

Netflix has confirmed that it will be moving forward with plans to develop a live-action TV series based on Ubisoft’s long-running Assassin’s Creed series of games. The move has been in the works since at least 2020, but previous attempts to make a live-action Assassin’s Creed series have stalled.

Netflix has now revealed two showrunners have been brought onboard, both of whom have experience working on similar big-budget sci-fi/fantasy properties. Roberto Patino and David Wiener will serve as showrunners on Assassin’s Creed. Patino has worked on HBO’s Westworld as a writer, as well as with Sons of Anarchy on FX. Meanwhile, Wiener worked on Paramount+’s live-action Halo series and AMC’s Fear the Walking Dead.

The two showrunners shared a statement about working on Assassin’s Creed and how it would explore the universal themes of humanity, storytelling, and historical fiction that the game has been telling for 15 years.

“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 Patino and Wiener. “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, transcending cultures and time. And it’s about what we stand to lose as a species when those connections break.”

The two went on to say that they were working with Ubisoft and Netflix to craft the best version of Assassin’s Creed that they could, and gave some credit to the rest of their team behind the scenes.

“We’ve got an amazing team working with us, at Netflix, at Ubisoft, and across the industry, and we’re humbled to get to make this show for you. We can’t wait to bring you something undeniable for fans all over the planet.”

The Stakes are High, but History is on Assassin’s Creed’s Side

Ubisoft’s Assassin’s Creed franchise is already something of an epic historical saga in video game form. The series first launched in 2007 with its original social stealth action game about an assassin during the Crusades, then expanded and became a well-known name with the triple-A hit Renaissance Italy trilogy of Assassin’s Creed II, Brotherhood, and Revelations, with characters like Ezio Auditore, replete with action, historical drama, and political intrigue.

Since that 2007 first entry, Assassin’s Creed has had 14 mainline releases, with video games going from being social stealth to full open-world RPG titles. Throughout its 18 years in production, the settings have included different eras and environments, like the American Revolution, the Golden Age of Piracy in the Caribbean, Revolutionary Paris, Victorian London, Ancient Egypt, Classical Greece, Viking Britain, and most recently Assassin’s Creed: Valhalla.

With Assassin’s Creed: Shadows, Ubisoft recently took their characters to feudal Japan—a fan-requested destination. The latest entry has been considered a great refining of the more recent RPG-style direction of the franchise, while retaining the elements that made it special in the first place. Many attribute its success to Ubisoft finally being willing to delay the title to allow for higher quality, an area fans hope Netflix will take note of.

Assassin’s Creed’s Unique Storytelling Leads the TV Series

Not much is known about the television series other than that Netflix has confirmed it, but there is much to draw from in terms of what to expect. As with the games, the storytelling will center around the centuries-long secret war between the Assassins and Templars, two powerful secret organizations fighting for the fate of humanity. In the franchise, this story is centered around the Animus, a machine that reads the DNA memories of ancient relatives, and thereby allows for the characters to relive the memories of their ancestors, often in major historical events and locations.

While it is not yet known who will be cast or what the show will follow, at least in terms of story or whether they will relate to other characters in the Assassin’s Creed gameverse, one thing is certain. As the 2016 Assassin’s Creed film starring Michael Fassbender and Zack Galifianakis was set on its separate narrative branch in the Assassin’s Creed timeline, this series may follow suit as well.

The Fassbender-led film was a mild success for the franchise, but had mixed reviews, and it’s still unclear whether the Netflix series will directly reference the movie or not. What is clear is that both the appetite for streaming large-scale, lore-rich content is ever-increasing, as is the success of video game adaptations. Netflix’s investment in Assassin’s Creed seems like a good move.

Ubisoft has a history of large IPs that Netflix has had success in developing on screen, such as The Witcher, so it’s not surprising they took a gamble on the Assassin’s Creed series. On top of that, the tide in recent years seems to be turning on screen adaptations of popular video games. The Last of Us HBO show has set a high benchmark in terms of staying loyal and bringing a big video game IP to the screen with an emotional core, and it has been a major success. Netflix has also had mixed results with The Witcher, but is still invested in developing those properties. Assassin’s Creed is something of a high-stakes bet in a crowded field, but all the pieces are there.

Assassin’s Creed has the cinematic quality and rich storytelling that seems to perform well in a premium TV streaming landscape. The series has experience in world-building, storytelling, and action-adventure in a way not many big IPs can lay claim to, and already has a massive and dedicated fanbase. Between Netflix and Ubisoft, the Assassin’s Creed TV show could be the next major fantasy-historical epic of the streaming era.