The Ethics of Memory and Violence in Assassin’s Creed

Netflix plans to greenlight its Assassin’s Creed live-action series, according to new reports, finally moving the long-awaited property forward. Revealed two years ago, the project has been something of a rolling stone over the intervening months, never quite getting traction and thus remaining in a development purgatory. All that could soon change.

Netflix has given the thumbs up to two showrunners at the helm, Roberto Patino and David Wiener, both of whom have credits in streaming series past that bode well for Assassin’s Creed’s chances. Patino has been involved with shows like Sons of Anarchy and Westworld, while Wiener was at the head of the Paramount+ Halo show and has worked on Fear the Walking Dead. Both clearly understand how to wield character and world-building while giving the property a sci-fi action edge to which it is inherently aligned.

The showrunners were more than happy to weigh in on why they’ve been drawn to the series and have been so motivated to realize it.

“We have been playing Assassin’s Creed games since 2007 and have loved being part of the Assassin’s Creed world,” Patino and Wiener said in a joint statement. “Every day on this show, we’re reminded of how big the world is and how expansive the stories we can tell are. But more than just acrobatic action and historical adventure, it’s a deeply personal story about identity, purpose, faith, and how our choices connect us across generations.”

It’s not all combat and storytelling aplomb either, as the two have more to say about what’s at the heart of the show. “Mostly, this is a show about the importance of human connection: to one another, to the past, and to those who will inherit the future,” they added. “With the full support of Netflix and a great team at Ubisoft, we can’t wait to make something meaningful to fans all over the world.”

Assassin’s Creed: A Game for All Seasons (Or, At Least, Eras)

A longstanding video game series with a broad fan base and accessible yet complex gameplay, Assassin’s Creed has been making waves in entertainment since it launched in 2007. The series has delivered multiple gaming experiences that, in addition to introducing a series of new protagonists and eras to game in, have found ways to balance fidelity to history with Assassin and Templar lore.

The most successful installments in the series’ history—and the ones that drew many to the franchise—feature the Italian Renaissance in their game world settings. Assassin’s Creed II, Brotherhood, and Revelations put players in the shoes of Ezio Auditore and redefined the experience of playing an Assassin. Fast forward to today, and 14 mainline releases later, and it’s easy to forget that the open-world RPG we enjoy now was once a much tighter, story-driven stealth game.

Locations in the Assassin’s Creed games include the American Revolution, the Caribbean, World War I, Ancient Greece, the Viking Age in Britain, and more. The most recent release, Assassin’s Creed Shadows, was widely regarded as a critical hit when it launched in December 2023, thanks in part to Ubisoft delaying it so the team behind it could better polish the experience and get the gameplay right.

The live-action series is expected to draw from all these entries and still has very few details revealed, save for the fact that it’s in development, with showrunners onboard, and that it will ostensibly star a modern-day protagonist trying to access genetic memories to learn more about their ancestry (being from the Assassin lineage). The individual historical settings haven’t been specified but are likely to include those seen in the film.

Live-Action Version of Assassin’s Creed: Prequel or Sequel

A live-action film was released in 2016 starring Michael Fassbender. Box office returns were average, and it received an overwhelmingly lukewarm reception, but its lasting legacy will be that, if it ever was considered, it was no longer. Netflix’s series is its property that may or may not draw from, touch on, or factor in the events of the feature.

The landscape for video game adaptations today is decidedly friendlier than it’s been in the past. HBO Max’s The Last of Us served as something of a benchmark for other franchises, both in how detailed its pre-production process was and in how faithful and respectful it was to the spirit of the video game series from which it took inspiration. Given Netflix’s financial commitment to genre content with a leaning toward fantasy and sci-fi, Assassin’s Creed is at least in the right orbit to succeed if given the right treatment.

The problem is the enormity of it, to some extent, as the Assassin’s Creed series has roamed so far in time and location that it can become dizzying to new audiences. Threading all of the eras together with the overarching narrative that is used to introduce modern-day characters and their ancestors’ fates is a problem of scale and balance.

As the showrunners have already alluded to, the success of the TV series will likely be weighed in how it all connects thematically rather than more or less faithfully executing combat sequences or environments. And yet, there will also be fans who expect to see those points hit with some degree of precision.

A Netflix release date and information about casting will all come down the line, no doubt, but at least the greenlight has been sent. For the fans who’ve waited nearly as long for it as the series has been in development, it’s enough to get hope renewed.