Exclusive: Doom Live-Action Series In The Works For Peacock
The first-person shooter classic Doom is being revived as a streaming series.
Doom, the controversial and incredibly popular video game franchise, is being rebooted as a live-action series for the streaming platform Peacock. According to our trusted and proven sources, the demon-killing first-person shooter is being revived after two failed attempts at a film, the most famous of which starred Dwayne Johnson (back when he was still primarily known for professional wrestling and billed as The Rock). Given the continued success of the video game series, it is unsurprising that there would be an attempt to reboot it, but it will remain to be seen if it takes this time.
It seems likely that a new Doom series will hard reboot the franchise and ignore the previous two movies, since they both made little impact on pop culture as a whole. The first film was released theatrically in 2005 and starred Dwayne Johnson in the years before his heyday as a Fast and Furious star (and his more recent downfall with Black Adam) as a future marine sent to battle interdimensional demons on Mars after scientists accidentally tear a hole in space, as they are prone to do. The movie co-starred Karl Urban (later to find more success with The Boys and the Kelvin-timeline Star Trek series) and Rosamund Pike (of Gone Girl and The World’s End), and was directed by Andrzej Bartkowiak.
The 2005 Doom film has a dismal 18 percent on Rotten Tomatoes and did not manage to make back its $60 million budget, despite the presumed built-in fanbase of the series. Although there were initial plans for a sequel, the property was unsurprisingly laid to rest until the 2019 revival Doom: Annihilation, which was released direct-to-video. It is probably worth noting that id Software, the studio behind the original game, publicly stated it had no involvement in the film, which is definitely not a signal of quality.
However, video game adaptations have a much different reputation in 2023 than even a few years ago (and certainly more than 2005). The Chris Pratt-led Super Mario Bros. Movie is a major theatrical release starring huge box office draws, while the HBO adaptation of The Last of Us is one of the most popular and critically adored series on television. It is likely the success of the latter that has studio executives thinking a Doom series has some potential.
It will be very interesting to see how Peacock approaches a Doom series. It could go with the realistic vibe of The Last of Us and emphasize the futility of fighting a losing war against an endless army of demons on other planets or Hell itself. On the other hand, it could lean into the ridiculousness of the premise of an unnamed protagonist (commonly referred to as “Doomguy”) armed with a shotgun taking on the hordes of the undead with a shotgun.
Since the original game does not have much of a plot to speak of (other than shamelessly ripping off Sam Raimi’s Evil Dead), Peacock could go any direction. Hopefully, third time will be the charm for Doom.
