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 Malika2 wrote:
One season for Xenos, one for Malleus, one for Hereticus, and then deal with Ravenor is the ratings allow it.

I fail to see why the opinions of Ratlings should matter?

Oh!

Xenos would have to be the over arching story/theme of the season(s), namely as it does lead into the other novels. A season based around the prequels etc have nothing to lead into the bigger stories.

I would imagine that the smaller stories would probably be integrated into the novel based seasons.

 Malika2 wrote:
One season for Xenos, one for Malleus, one for Hereticus, and then deal with Ravenor is the ratings allow it.

The only thing there is streaming networks may be leery of committing to adapt an unfinished novel series in the wake of GoT.

Given the hypothetical "slate" of work Dan was discussing for himself on that podcast recently(more Ghosts, revisiting Titanicus and Double Eagle, maaaayybe a Unification Wars book or several), plus his comics and scriptwriting gigs(hell, he might even end up contributing to this show), and assuming one season per year per novel for the show, and also assuming that he actually gets the second Bequin book out the door this year, I'd lay even odds that he managed to get the third one finished before the show was caught up(providing it's successful enough of course).

Though unlike GRRM, there are at least 12 Dan Abnett’s to Get Things Done.

The man’s output is frankly astounding.

Heck...just sticking with the 3 Eisenhorn and 3 Ravenor books would already be quite an undertaking. I can see them milk that out over 6-7 seasons. Magos would be another season. I wonder if Abnett will need another 10 years to do a sequel to Pariah

Penitent is halfway done right now and probably dropping next year. Chances are he'll start work on the final book not long after, doing like he did with the previous Ghosts arc where he also more or less wrote them back to back after a long wait. During the podcast he certainly let know that he was hyped with what he had in store for the Bequin trilogy.

 BrookM wrote:
There is prequel material out there: Master Immus' Transgression and Regia Occulta.

There is also a non-canon tie-in comic that came with the Xenos game, but less said about that the better.

Master Immus’ Transgression would be a good tone setter too, especially for showing the darker side of the Inquisiton (Master Immus basically comes to them with discrepancies in his work that is actually signs of Chaos, gets terrified and threatened with torture and has his whole life ruined for basically doing the right thing, from what I remember).

 ImAGeek wrote:

 BrookM wrote:
There is prequel material out there: Master Immus' Transgression and Regia Occulta.

There is also a non-canon tie-in comic that came with the Xenos game, but less said about that the better.

Master Immus’ Transgression would be a good tone setter too, especially for showing the darker side of the Inquisiton (Master Immus basically comes to them with discrepancies in his work that is actually signs of Chaos, gets terrified and threatened with torture and has his whole life ruined for basically doing the right thing, from what I remember).

Quite so, it ends on Eisenhorn telling him that he doesn't care what happens to the man. He is after all, an interrogator in service of the Inquisition and has other things to worry about than someone losing his job and no longer being able to afford the rent.

Regia Occulta also works nicely as it shows him at work as a full-fledged Inquisitor, doing the rounds so to speak checking in on a cluster of worlds and being called in on a serial killer case. This one nicely shows off his investigation, psychic and combat skills, not to mention what kind of universe it really is, when the phenomenon is explained.

One thing I do rather selfishly hope they keep to a minimum is trying to explain everything. Most of the big 40k games did none of that and Dan's novels are certainly light on explaining things in the 40k setting, instead letting things just do their thing and having the audience figure out for their selves what something is or does. It would be quite jarring if a character shoots a bolter and then turns to the audience surrogate to explain that it is a 20mm rocket shooting cannon.

 Mad Doc Grotsnik wrote:
Well, for an Inquisitor, they make sense.

Facing an angry crowd? Looking to reassert control and dominance? Couple of ring leaders suffering a sudden and rather fatal case of ‘exploding chest’ is likely to show you mean business.

Bolters are terror weapons. Beyond that, they’re almost laughable inefficient (difficult to maintain, small clips, ammo hard to come by) compared to the Lasgun or Pistol. But the sheer damage they wreak? Yeah. That’s not something you can shoot to wound with.

Though.....I suppose an exposition scene, explaining what they are and how they work, then a side of Grox becoming a fine, red mist might serve nicely? Think Dirty Harry, but with a demo and a detonation?

an explosition scene could work. I imagine it'd go a bit like this...

*Eisenhorn's arming Chmaber, the Inqusitor is perparing for an operating and suggests a large dangerous looking gun we've never seen before*

"Emperor's blood inqusitor! what the warp is that thing?" "This is a bolt pistol. it doesn't fire a sold slug like your revolver there. It fires a rocket propelled projectile, that explodes when it imbedes within the target. Mankind conquered the stars with these guns" "Jeeze inqusitor that seems a bit extreme" "If our opponents where mere humans, I might agree, they are not however and against what I expect to fight today a single bolt round may not be eneugh.."

obviously much MUCH better written then that but.. you get the drift. a scene of exposition that mentions what they're capable of, that mentions that they're the choice weapon of the great crusade, and space marines to this day.. and that there are some things in the galaxy even that level of terriable weapon may not suffice.

BrianDavion wrote:

 Mad Doc Grotsnik wrote:
Well, for an Inquisitor, they make sense.

Facing an angry crowd? Looking to reassert control and dominance? Couple of ring leaders suffering a sudden and rather fatal case of ‘exploding chest’ is likely to show you mean business.

Bolters are terror weapons. Beyond that, they’re almost laughable inefficient (difficult to maintain, small clips, ammo hard to come by) compared to the Lasgun or Pistol. But the sheer damage they wreak? Yeah. That’s not something you can shoot to wound with.

Though.....I suppose an exposition scene, explaining what they are and how they work, then a side of Grox becoming a fine, red mist might serve nicely? Think Dirty Harry, but with a demo and a detonation?

an explosition scene could work. I imagine it'd go a bit like this...

*Eisenhorn's arming Chmaber, the Inqusitor is perparing for an operating and suggests a large dangerous looking gun we've never seen before*

"Emperor's blood inqusitor! what the warp is that thing?" "This is a bolt pistol. it doesn't fire a sold slug like your revolver there. It fires a rocket propelled projectile, that explodes when it imbedes within the target. Mankind conquered the stars with these guns" "Jeeze inqusitor that seems a bit extreme" "If our opponents where mere humans, I might agree, they are not however and against what I expect to fight today a single bolt round may not be eneugh.."

obviously much MUCH better written then that but.. you get the drift. a scene of exposition that mentions what they're capable of, that mentions that they're the choice weapon of the great crusade, and space marines to this day.. and that there are some things in the galaxy even that level of terriable weapon may not suffice.

This is bolt pistol, the most powerful handgun in the Imperium. It fires an explosive round that would blow your head clean off. You got to ask yourself one question, do I feel lucky? Well, do you heretic?

 MonkeyBallistic wrote:

BrianDavion wrote:

 Mad Doc Grotsnik wrote:
Well, for an Inquisitor, they make sense.

Facing an angry crowd? Looking to reassert control and dominance? Couple of ring leaders suffering a sudden and rather fatal case of ‘exploding chest’ is likely to show you mean business.

Bolters are terror weapons. Beyond that, they’re almost laughable inefficient (difficult to maintain, small clips, ammo hard to come by) compared to the Lasgun or Pistol. But the sheer damage they wreak? Yeah. That’s not something you can shoot to wound with.

Though.....I suppose an exposition scene, explaining what they are and how they work, then a side of Grox becoming a fine, red mist might serve nicely? Think Dirty Harry, but with a demo and a detonation?

an explosition scene could work. I imagine it'd go a bit like this...

*Eisenhorn's arming Chmaber, the Inqusitor is perparing for an operating and suggests a large dangerous looking gun we've never seen before*

"Emperor's blood inqusitor! what the warp is that thing?" "This is a bolt pistol. it doesn't fire a sold slug like your revolver there. It fires a rocket propelled projectile, that explodes when it imbedes within the target. Mankind conquered the stars with these guns" "Jeeze inqusitor that seems a bit extreme" "If our opponents where mere humans, I might agree, they are not however and against what I expect to fight today a single bolt round may not be eneugh.."

obviously much MUCH better written then that but.. you get the drift. a scene of exposition that mentions what they're capable of, that mentions that they're the choice weapon of the great crusade, and space marines to this day.. and that there are some things in the galaxy even that level of terriable weapon may not suffice.

This is bolt pistol, the most powerful handgun in the Imperium. It fires an explosive round that would blow your head clean off. You got to ask yourself one question, do I feel lucky? Well, do you heretic?

you know if someone said that in the series pople ehre would be screaming "what about inferio/plasma/grav/whatever pistols!"

 Yodhrin wrote:

 Malika2 wrote:
One season for Xenos, one for Malleus, one for Hereticus, and then deal with Ravenor is the ratings allow it.

The only thing there is streaming networks may be leery of committing to adapt an unfinished novel series in the wake of GoT.

Given the hypothetical "slate" of work Dan was discussing for himself on that podcast recently(more Ghosts, revisiting Titanicus and Double Eagle, maaaayybe a Unification Wars book or several), plus his comics and scriptwriting gigs(hell, he might even end up contributing to this show), and assuming one season per year per novel for the show, and also assuming that he actually gets the second Bequin book out the door this year, I'd lay even odds that he managed to get the third one finished before the show was caught up(providing it's successful enough of course).

Well. The guy has two trilogies done already. It’s just the 3rd that’s not done.

It would be plenty satisfying if they just did Eisenhorn and left it at that. It’s self contained and has the option of sequels if you want to.

Yeah it’s hardly unfinished. It’s a trilogy and it’s done.
Bear in mind that Ravenor, and Bequin, are trilogies of a different series, in the same setting, with some crossover characters.
I know to you and I, yeah it’s one big tale. But from the standpoint of Producers for Telly, that’s one big trilogy. It’s just option for more should they wish.
They could carry on following Eisenhorn after the three books.
Or just end it completely.
Or do something completely different.
Or do ravenor.
Who knows.

One thing, as with a lot of tv adaptions.
It may not follow the books, or may loosely.
And certainly won’t be set in the fiction universe but it’s own version I’d say. (So things can change)

Threadomancy of a kind, but in the interest of adding a small bit of info from the following article.

https://www.theguardian.com/business/2020/jan/14/warhammer-tv-series-games-workshop-sales

For the click shy or work blocked, here’s the relevant bit,

Kevin Rountree wrote:

Games Workshop is hoping to replicate the success of hit fantasy TV shows such as The Witcher with a new series based on its Warhammer 40,000 tabletop game.

As the high-street fantasy-figure seller’s shares hit an all-time high, the company said a series based on the Eisenhorn books, set in the game’s dystopian universe, was in development. The novels follow the adventures of the Imperial Inquisitor Gregor Eisenhorn as he scours the galaxy for heretics and demons.

The Games Workshop chief executive, Kevin Rountree, said work on the show was progressing well as the company reported record half-year sales and profits.

“No production contracts have been signed yet,” he said. “Our experts continue to work with our external partners learning how this industry works to ensure, if it does go into production, our first TV show is not only true to our IP but is a commercial success too.”

So, seems it’s being done very slow and steady. Interesting that no production contracts have been signed, and it’s being spoken of as somewhat hypothetical.

That is...disappointing. Not that they're consulting and taking their time and aiming for quality, but that they hadn't consulted and taken their time aiming for quality before announcing they were making an Eisenhorn TV show.

Like, "is this even feasible" is the kind of work that's usually done behind-the-scenes before any announcements are made.

 Yodhrin wrote:
That is...disappointing. Not that they're consulting and taking their time and aiming for quality, but that they hadn't consulted and taken their time aiming for quality before announcing they were making an Eisenhorn TV show.

Like, "is this even feasible" is the kind of work that's usually done behind-the-scenes before any announcements are made.

Yeah - so either they had a deal and it's fallen through; or they were hoping once they made their announcement people would be lining up to work with them, but no-one did.

Hardly surprising considering how expensive decent quality tv shows are, vs how actually mainstream 40k is.

Pre-emotive against an expected leak?

I have friends and know others with Hollywood Options for their books or other content and it can really take years to get anything done. I know at least one that had a Screenplay writer signed and announced and nothing has been written in the two years since.

GW has a lot better chance then any of them has they have a pretty large fan base but it takes something really monumental culturally to get Hollywood to work at a faster pace.

If it's not going to get made now when gakky shows and movies are being created and renewed just to have any content with name recognition for the streaming wars, it never will. Hundreds of millions are being thrown at much shallower IPs with smaller fanbases. I just hope that they're not being too picky/arrogant similar to Microsoft's approach to getting Halo on any screen a decade ago.

Sometimes you've got to be picky otherwise you can end up with something like the Sci-fy channel Earthsea adaptation where they made the entire cast white, barring one token character. Which if you know anything about Earthsea is basically missing the entire point not just of the story but also one of the reasons it was created in the first place.

I'm not advocating being hands off but rather just positing that, given GW's history of arrogance (admittedly waning somewhat in recent years), that I fear they may be too picky if they're still trying to get it made in the current wild West of the streaming wars. I don't want a faux progressive kinder take on the brutal Grimdark of the 40k universe but rather something more true to the original. However, some things must invariably change to bring it to a new medium let alone the further changes necessary to make it a financial success from the getgo. I just wonder if they're going beyond simply staying generally true to the themes and aesthetics to rigidly adhering to them in an ironically Imperium of Man fashion.

beast_gts wrote:

 Yodhrin wrote:
That is...disappointing. Not that they're consulting and taking their time and aiming for quality, but that they hadn't consulted and taken their time aiming for quality before announcing they were making an Eisenhorn TV show.

Like, "is this even feasible" is the kind of work that's usually done behind-the-scenes before any announcements are made.

Yeah - so either they had a deal and it's fallen through; or they were hoping once they made their announcement people would be lining up to work with them, but no-one did.

No, the original report was that Eisenhorn had been “optioned”. That’s basically when a production company is interested in possibly buying the rights off the IP holder, but not interested enough to actually buy them. So, they pay the IP to not sell the rights to anyone else for a fixed period, usually a few years. It’s no guarantee that anything will actually get made and it’s quite common for IPs to be optioned by successive companies for decades before anything actually gets made, if it ever does.

I’m afraid all of the “They’re making an Eisenhorn TV show” news was very premature.

I don't want a faux progressive kinder take on the brutal Grimdark of the 40k universe but rather something more true to the original.

Honestly, that might be part of the problem. Not many broadcasters want to have their name associated with a show that'd glorify space nazi catholics.

Cronch wrote:

I don't want a faux progressive kinder take on the brutal Grimdark of the 40k universe but rather something more true to the original.

Honestly, that might be part of the problem. Not many broadcasters want to have their name associated with a show that'd glorify space nazi catholics.

If that's what is holding it up then I'd agree with GW sticking to their guns. 40k isn't the type of universe where racism between humans should be a key theme when there are forces in the galaxy trying to literally eat you body and soul (nids and chaos). Same thing with in vogue themes like stopping climate change... The only way that should be addressed is silently in the background with a horribly polluted hive of Forgeworld way to far gone to save. The only preaching should be from the pulpit (whether by the Ecclesiarchy or Chaos demagogue) to the dirty unwashed masses of the Imperium and not to the audience.

Agreed. Eisenhorn is already the "safe" end of the 40K pool as it is(relatively speaking ofc), if they have to neuter it even more to actually get the show made I'd rather they didn't bother.

In the current climate, I want GW to be stubborn and controlling about how the IP is used, it's the only way there's even a chance the end result will actually resemble 40K nevermind the specific work being adapted.

Well, let’s break down some stuff which is horrific, but nothing new for tv.

First up? Servitors.

They’re ubiquitous in The Imperium, doing all sorts of dirty and dangerous jobs. Some are hardwired to their stations, others not so much. Most are monotasked.

We know they’re all sorts. Some vat grown, some criminals erm, ‘repurposed’, and some are, allegedly, simply repurposed citizens.

But to the Tv audience? They’re just tame Borg. A broadly similar concept that’s existed for over 30 years. In a distinctly PG setting.

So I’d say that look of The Imperium is safe.

The Inquisition? Look to Dredd, and similar properties. Extremely right wing civilisations are equally nothing particularly new.

Yes, to modern sensibilities they’re incredibly draconian etc. But, you just need to couch it in the setting properly. Consider Carl’s comment in Starship Troopers - we’re in this for the species, people.

The Inquisition is incredibly, ludicrously harsh because the dangers and threats they seek to contain, minimise or halt are far, far worst alternatives. Yes, some will remorselessly hunt any Psyker. Some are virulent Xenophobes and so on. Because if they’re lax in their duty? If they let up for one instant or stay their hand at the wrong time? Planets and whole systems can suffer any number of gruesome fates. To quote Spock - the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few.

They’ll also need to explain the sheer, deliberate ignorance of the distinct majority of mankind. That too is necessary. When you’ve broken their spirit and tamed curiosity over generations, you’re less likely to have someone pressing that button you’d really rather they don’t press.

But most of all, you need a hint of Guilliman and The Emperor. By that, I mean get across the initial flavour that mankind suffers now, so that in time it can be truly free. All enemies vanquished. All habitable planets under one rule and one faith. True human unity, galaxy wide. It’s a noble but ultimately laughable goal. Get that vein of deeply dark tragedy in, and you’re halfway.

Eisenhorn is a good example, as he starts off Puritan, and overtime becomes ever more ‘radical’ as the pressures of the job manifest.

In terms of gore? The Mountain squashing heads. Drogon burning King’s Landing. The Baratheon Family Barbecue. Cannibals and headsmashing and buckets and buckets of gore in The Walking Dead. TV can comfortably get away with really quite violent scenes when it wants to. We really need only see a couple of mooks catch a Bolt round on-screen to get the, ahem, impact.

Heck, I’ve been bingeing Supernatural, and that gets away with rather a lot. Typically off-screen deaths with on-screen gore splashes (could easily be adapted for Bolt round related deaths. Necks being wrung by supernatural forces on-screen. Deliberate torture being shown on-screen (Bobby trying to figure out what works on Leviathans. Yep, just finished Season 7!)

And the upside where ratings and censorship are concerned? 40k doesn’t really have bad language. Nor does it really have any rumpy pumpy hows-your-father. Instead, it’s just ultra violence and lashings of it,

As for Psychic scrying? Dredd nailed that with Anderson’s impromptu investigation. Scene - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xLnE4rAffdA (I won’t embed as it’s a bit sweary and from an 18 rated movie.). Very, very simply shot. With the pay off of the genuine hard man perp wetting himself.

So for a chunk of the old ultra-v, show us once or twice, then a whole load of implying. It’s effective story telling, and I dare say friendly to all potential budgets.

In short, there’s an awful lot out there already broadly comparable.

I've got almost no interest in seeing this get made. For it to be done right it would almost end up being like a big budget arthouse project. The other end is we get a woke/PC version of 40k sanitized for mass viewing on whatever streaming platform.

I think the release of Dune in December could affect this either in a positive or negative way.

If Dune is well received and does well there will be a swathe of "copycat" type movies and shows cashing in on it's success.

40K fits into that very well whilst still retaining its own identity.

The downside to that is the comparisons made against it. One of the reasons The Witcher was unfavourably reviewed was due to comparisons to Game of Thrones.

Luckily the fans knew it wasn't supposed to be like GoT and has done very well despite reviewers initially panning it.

This could be the same for Eisenhorn.

There's also the fact that Dune might do badly at the box office, putting studios off doing that sort of retro sci-fi.

I'm hoping that isn't the case though as i have high hopes for Dune.