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Stick some sideburns on Cavill, then stick sideburns on the sideburns and have him play Ciaphas Cain It's perfect for episodic TV, you can have Amberley off-screen narrate exposition, the stories in general are a bit more humorous than 'ra ra genocide ra fundamentalism', Cains frequent travels allow for anything from large plots to 'monster of the week' style stories, and because he meets a lot of people and is a womanizer you can have your diversity and romance if you need them. Also, Cain often acts as a exposition dump to his acquaintances, so you have another opportunity to introduce the lore that's necessary for the episode without messing up the timing too much.

 TalonZahn wrote:

 H.B.M.C. wrote:
Would this be the long-gestating Eisenhorn series?

I'd want Mark Strong to play Eisenhorn. I'd also want Mark Strong to play Gulliman.

Basically cast Mark Strong for every character except whomever Cavill is playing.

Figure out how to squeeze in Karl Urban and we have a deal.

Karl Urban would make a good a good Harlon Nayl https://wh40k.lexicanum.com/wiki/Harlon_Nayl

If it goes ahead, this is going to be a huge cash injection for GW.

I'm optimistic, but prepared for disappointment... that is if it actually goes ahead.

Cavill being the EP is a good first step. Now he should push for a writers team that won't mystery box the show and actually gets 40k beyond grimderp and Ghazkull level puns.

That's presuming Amazon learned anything from WoT and RoP, which I kinda doubt.

 His Master's Voice wrote:


That's presuming Amazon learned anything from WoT and RoP, which I kinda doubt.

Amazon just announced that RoP Season 2 will have an all-female direction, including a former lead director of WoT, so i don't think they did.

‘THE LORD OF THE RINGS: THE RINGS OF POWER’ Season 2 will have an all-female directing team.

This includes returning director Charlotte Brändström as well as Sanaa Hamri (‘The Wheel of Time’) and Louise Hooper (‘The Sandman’).

Source: https://twitter.com/DiscussingFilm/status/1603047444828356609

Not sure where some keeps their Rude Bits has anything at all to do with Directing talent though?

And remember kids. As we get older, the Rude Bits get ruder and ruder.

So you have stats on profit they made? As that is what tells do they need to learn or not.

Wonder if this will be on Warhammer+

Tsagualsa wrote:

 His Master's Voice wrote:


That's presuming Amazon learned anything from WoT and RoP, which I kinda doubt.

Amazon just announced that RoP Season 2 will have an all-female direction, including a former lead director of WoT, so i don't think they did.

I'm confused? I'm accepting the premise that somehow the gender of the director matters, but RoP 1 had an 75% male director team. So are you saying you loved it, and they're moving in the wrong direction by changing up the directors?

deano2099 wrote:

Tsagualsa wrote:

 His Master's Voice wrote:


That's presuming Amazon learned anything from WoT and RoP, which I kinda doubt.

Amazon just announced that RoP Season 2 will have an all-female direction, including a former lead director of WoT, so i don't think they did.

I'm confused? I'm accepting the premise that somehow the gender of the director matters, but RoP 1 had an 75% male director team. So are you saying you loved it, and they're moving in the wrong direction by changing up the directors?

It was a mistake to even mention it and i'm sorry i did, let's just don't have that discussion here, nothing good can come of it.

Official now:

https://investor.games-workshop.com/2022/12/16/agreement-in-principle-to-develop-film-and-tv/

Not sure what to make of this. It'll be good (if only in the short term) for GW but Amazon butchered Lord of the Rings and Wheel of Time by not really respecting the source material and trying to make their own thing rather than adapting the actual content.

This being said it'll have a decent budget and GW have been notoriously picky over their IP, so may have retained more control than other licensees do.

AllSeeingSkink wrote:
Wonder if this will be on Warhammer+

I doubt it. Amazon would be providing the funding, GW are just lending the rights and presumably some level of oversight.

Now I may need a tinfoil hat for this, but whilst I freely admit I’ve no way of supporting, I think it’s a credible take…


This is what Warhammer+ was always about. GW take control of their own IP (a good move when looking to license it, as who wants to shell out when others are using it for free), and put out shows they’re happy reflect the setting. The actual quality of those shows matters less than what is confirmed to be Acceptable Content.

We’ve seen quite brutal, but not graphic violence. We’ve seen swears (and some quite big ones from the Pantheon Of Naughty Words). That’s a useful guide for anyone thinking of procuring Rights from you, as they now have a sense of what you, the owner of said Rights, are willing to sign off on in terms of content.

It’s kind of an Expo type thing. An advert to the industry of what could be done with this popular IP.

 Mad Doc Grotsnik wrote:

Tavis75 wrote:
Hasn't there been an Eisenhorn show in development for a few years now, by the creators of Man in the High Castle (which was on Amazon)? So possibly related to that. Could certainly see Cavill as the younger Eisenhorn.

Yup. Eisenhorn is also a decent way to introduce people to the setting. Being “just a man” you get a smaller scale tale, which can overtime be built up to show the bigger picture.

And that’s GW’s tv/media arm.
They aren’t just looking at Eisenhorn.
Spotnitz was involved in several projects heading forward.

But the talks with Amazon are just them shopping it out to various networks which we knew they were doing.
Amazon is potentially just who we are landing on. It isn’t all being handed over to Amazon, they’ll just be putting up some of the bill and getting the goods, as with whomever they’d go with..


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Whether these things will be good or not is of course a question up for debate.
But whether it’ll be in line with the lore and kept very “Warhammer” though, that’s not in question.

GW won’t be letting others water it down or make changes, they are very protective of the lore. It’s one of the most important aspects.

But as I say, that could be the downfall of a show, as sometimes changes need to be made for tv and film etc..

https://investor.games-workshop.com/

Agreement Reached on Commercial Terms. Contracts yet to be signed.

Given Amazon get the Merch Rights, sounds like the Contract Signing may be all but a formality.

As ever Not An Expert, Almosf Certainly Waaaay More To It Than This Idiot Thinks.

This happens all the time and never leads to fruition to be honest. There’s a awful lot of stages and steps.
But with GW pushing this as they are, I think it’s unlikely to collapse before we get somewhere.

Danny76 wrote:
This happens all the time and never leads to fruition to be honest. There’s a awful lot of stages and steps.
But with GW pushing this as they are, I think it’s unlikely to collapse before we get somewhere.

Yes. I'm still waiting for the glacial pace of the Duncan Jones Rogue Trooper project to come to fruition.

 lord_blackfang wrote:
So this is how 40k dies, not with a bang but with fresh out of college (if that) writers who have zero knowledge of the setting and were just given a bullet point list of character names to insert into the unrelated fanfic they wrote in high school because Amazon isn't paying them enough to actually do work on the project.

This is an absurd degree of catastrophizing. But should this happen, I will dance on 40k's grave until my knees give out, and I will laugh, and laugh, and laugh until my voice grows hoarse and I start spitting up blood.

C Robert Cargill mentioned the other day that he'd like to screenwrite for a 40K show/movie.

If Cavill will indeed act as an executive producer, we might be looking at a show that *gasp* respects its source material. This is genuinely exciting news.

I'm not going to hold my breath. I don't care that Henry is a huge fan. He was a huge Witcher fan, and look what happened. He left the show because the showrunners weren't faithful.

 BertBert wrote:
If Cavill will indeed act as an executive producer, we might be looking at a show that *gasp* respects its source material. This is genuinely exciting news.

Executive Producer means they sourced, secured, or provided financing.

 Mad Doc Grotsnik wrote:

AllSeeingSkink wrote:
Wonder if this will be on Warhammer+

I doubt it. Amazon would be providing the funding, GW are just lending the rights and presumably some level of oversight.

I'd be surprised if GW aren't getting royalties for it, and there could be some arrangement for initial investment. There could easily be a clause that the episodes be shared on Warhammer+, maybe delayed by X days or something like that, or maybe they can be purchased at a discount on Warhammer+, maybe Amazon get a % of royalties from Warhammer+ subscriptions depending on how well it does, or maybe there's no such agreement and it'll be exclusive to Amazon.

There could be lots of options.

There's no way one Amazon series can kill off 40K. It might kill any hopes for more live action TV/films for the setting, at least for a while, but that's about it.

I estimate this film/series thing to be a flop, based on the existing televised material we have (ie everything being utter garbage except for Helsreach). Even Angels of Death was a disappointment in the end. More bolter pr0n for the kiddies

 Platuan4th wrote:
C Robert Cargill mentioned the other day that he'd like to screenwrite for a 40K show/movie.

Sounds like he wants Amazon's guys to call his guys to set up a meeting, to me.

 GaroRobe wrote:
I'm not going to hold my breath. I don't care that Henry is a huge fan. He was a huge Witcher fan, and look what happened. He left the show because the showrunners weren't faithful.

I would almost feel sorry for Henry**, so enthusiastic for The Witcher and it was crap. I think there's a lot of potential for this to also be a flop.


**(if, ya know, he wasn't incredibly rich, incredibly handsome, incredibly muscular, and somehow still finds time to play video games and paint Warhammer crap)

 Mad Doc Grotsnik wrote:
https://investor.games-workshop.com/

Agreement Reached on Commercial Terms. Contracts yet to be signed.

Given Amazon get the Merch Rights, sounds like the Contract Signing may be all but a formality.

As ever Not An Expert, Almosf Certainly Waaaay More To It Than This Idiot Thinks.

It's basically an initial declaration of mutual interest, with a round of preliminary offers on both sides what they'd put on the table for further negotiations. That's not nothing, but it's also still at a stage where it could be cancelled pretty easily and without significant costs to either party. Contract negotiations is where the meat of the legal action will happen, especially negotiations about the licensing schemes, the way profits are split and so on. That can take quite a lot of time, mostly because ''Hollywood acounting'' is notorious for being somewhere between deliberately obscure and outright predatory. Look for news about GW bringing in a law firm that specializes in that kind of stuff as a sign that the negotiations have begun in earnest, probably around 3-6 months from now, when preliminary scouting for potentially interested actors, writers and staff has finished the first round.

 Londinium wrote:
Official now:

https://investor.games-workshop.com/2022/12/16/agreement-in-principle-to-develop-film-and-tv/

Not sure what to make of this. It'll be good (if only in the short term) for GW but Amazon butchered Lord of the Rings and Wheel of Time by not really respecting the source material and trying to make their own thing rather than adapting the actual content.

This being said it'll have a decent budget and GW have been notoriously picky over their IP, so may have retained more control than other licensees do.

I'm going to throw up a little in my mouth by defending Amazon here. Amazon were essentially only granted the rights to produce a series based upon the Appendices at the back of LOTR. And that was further narrowed by allowing very limited or no reference to other published works of Tolkien and their estate.

Really, the studio had their hands tied, their mouths sewn shut and their eyes blinded. No wonder they produced trash.

As for the AiP. lots can go wrong before it goes right for any warhammer based production.

Notice that Amazon would be granted exclusive merchandising rights... makes it difficult for existing fan favourites to be tied to an Amazon exclusive production.

 Platuan4th wrote:

 BertBert wrote:
If Cavill will indeed act as an executive producer, we might be looking at a show that *gasp* respects its source material. This is genuinely exciting news.

Executive Producer means they sourced, secured, or provided financing.

Not necessarily: https://www.denofgeek.com/tv/what-actually-is-an-executive-producer/ it's used rather flexibly. Sometimes it can be used for someone who has creative input, as way of reflecting this. I would suggest that's more likely to be Cavill's role than anything on the funding side.

 tauist wrote:
I estimate this film/series thing to be a flop, based on the existing televised material we have (ie everything being utter garbage except for Helsreach). Even Angels of Death was a disappointment in the end.

I feel like live action 40k is doomed to failure because it will be near impossible to capture the feel of the universe without it coming across terrible. All the tongue in cheek stuff mixed in with the grim dark mixed in with many mediocre stories and a few good stories. I just struggle to see how it could turn out good when all that clashes with the realities of live action, but I'm happy to be proven wrong.

Lets hope they dont try to make marines into some kind of heroes.
Astartes should be a terrible and intimidating presence in the background, mostly to show scale and proportion in the setting.

Anyway, will be cool to see what they come up with, in a few years.