Exclusive: Dishonored Project In The Works At Netflix
We've exclusively learned that Netflix is developing Dishonored.
This article is more than 2 years old
Netflix is working on building franchises. This is the next big thing for the streaming service that has proven a worthy rival to traditional Hollywood studios. They have big talent on their projects now, including writers, directors, and actors made famous at those same Hollywood studies. They’re winning Oscars. Expanding their efforts on building franchises is now one of their main goals. With properties like The Witcher doing so well on Netflix, they’re seeing a lot of growth in that area. Now, they have their eyes on their next target. We’ve exclusively learned from one of our trusted and proven inside sources that Netflix is developing a Dishonored project.
Dishonored will inevitably be a project that gets compared to The Witcher on Netflix. Both were previously video games. However, The Witcher started off as a book, so it had seen other prior adaptations. With a few Dishonored games out there, this source material is comparably slimmer. One of the more interesting things about this game being adapted for the screen is the list of voice actors who worked on the game. We were unable to learn if Netflix is looking at talking to any of those voice actors to be involved in the project. While the main character in the game, Corvo Attano, an assassin, never once spoke during the game, the side characters were notable. The list of talent involved includes John Slattery, Chloë Grace Moretz, Brad Dourif, Susan Sarandon, and Lena Headey.
The late Carrie Fisher also worked on the Dishonored game as one of the voices on the loudspeakers that announced government propaganda throughout the city. Lena Headey (Cersei Lannister on Game of Thrones) voiced the character who was taking care of Chloë Grace Moretz’s character. Moretz played the daughter of the murdered empress in the story. These two are key characters. Lena Headey has shown an interest in action stories in the past and was interested in doing voicework for the game, so she seems like she’s a top person on the list to talk to for this new Netflix project.
The game’s main character, Corvo Attano, started off as the bodyguard for the empress. The story began with her murder and the kidnapping of her daughter. Corvo is then imprisoned, then freed, and becomes an assassin. Dishonored had neat gameplay in that it had a lot of freedom in the choices for players. Overall, the game was well-reviewed. Of note, however, is that negative reviews point out that Dishonored had a predictable storyline. In a game, you’ll find enough players who enjoy things well enough despite that detriment. In a movie or television series for Netflix, they’re going to have to do better.
In general, video game adaptations have a bad reputation. The movies tend to not live up to the expectations. Video games and movies or television series are such different storytelling formats. Will Dishonored be able to break the mold? The game had its own city (Dunwall) with a defined tone. It had an interesting starting premise for the story. There were interesting side characters. Our main character was designed to be simpler so that the player could see through their eyes. Netflix will likely need to do more to develop a great main character if they want Dishonored to beat the odds and be their next big franchise story.
