A year ago, fans learnt that the Netflix BioShock film had finally found its director. It was news to fans’ ears, even though there’s a natural amount of caution and scepticism that comes with video games being turned into TV shows and/or films. Yes, in recent years cinematic adaptations and their TV counterparts have better hit the mark – like HBO’s The Last of Us – but there’s still some adaptations that fall flat.
With its director named, fans awaited further updates… and waited… then the Writers Guild of America strikes hit and everything went on hold. Now those strikes have ended, little updates are trickling through; while they’re not awe-inspiring, they hold promise that Netflix is doing right by the thrilling FPS.
Reminisce and check out BioShock Infinite below.
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“[I've] been meeting regularly with [the director] Francis Lawrence and his team to refine a draft to go back in,” says head writer Michael Green in a recent Collider interview. “We're all optimistic. We all love it. It's a great big sprawling nightmare world we wanna see real. So, here's hoping. I would love to have an update for you soon”.
“You have to measure your words, or you'll start to see a laser pointer at my forehead from the Netflix legal. Netflix has been amazing about it. They were excited about it before the strike, they're excited about it now, post-strike”.
Although Green’s words aren’t nearly as enticing as the massive open-world teased in BioShock 4, it shows, if nothing else, that the creators are all taking the project seriously. As is necessary when taking on such a beloved franchise; if you do right by it, the fans will reward you, but if you do wrong, well, the fans will eat you alive. Just look at the cynical Redditors who set their baseline to “terrible” whenever a video game adaptation happens.
“This could go extremely well. The lore of the world is rich and incredibly interesting. It was, to me, the driving factor in wanting to play in the world,” posts aTreeThenMe. “This will go wildly wrong if what they make is an action shooter hero saving something or someone thing. I want the story of rapture, not the story of hero vs big daddies and tweakers.”
For now, I’m remaining indifferent, neither hopeful nor doubtful. Whether that proves to pay off in the long run is up for debate, but, then again, so is everything else when it comes to BioShock.
