Yesterday, news broke that Henry Cavill and Amazon were working together to bring Games Workshop‘s Warhammer universe to film and television. Now, it’s official, as Games Workshop has announced the project. Working with Amazon Studios, the Warhammer 40,000 universe will come to screens big and small. Henry Cavill will be the Executive Producer and will star as well.
The deal with Amazon Studios is for rights to the universe for film and “more”.
Below is the official announcement as well as Cavill’s own announcement.
Amazon Studios today announced that it has secured global rights to Warhammer 40,000, based on the immensely popular intellectual property from Games Workshop (GAW) that has given rise to an immersive global hobby – Warhammer. The agreement encompasses rights to the universe across series, film, and more, and will sit alongside GAW’s activities as they continue to make the best miniatures in the world. This is the first deal of its kind for Amazon Studios for IP of this scale, and it allows the company to utilize the title across its entertainment businesses. Henry Cavill (Man of Steel, Mission: Impossible – Fallout) is set to star in and executive produce the Warhammer 40,000 franchise across all Amazon Studios productions.
Since launching nearly 40 years ago, the Warhammer universe has been constantly expanding through GAW’s miniatures, sourcebooks, tabletop games, animations, novels, a wealth of licensed material, and video games.
Warhammer 40,000 is set in the far future, where humanity stands at the edge of what might be its brightest future, or its darkest age. The threats to humankind’s empire are many — traitors driven by the fires of ambition, alien empires sworn to reclaim the stars, and the corruption of reality by malevolent gods.
“Warhammer 40,000 has captured the imagination of fans of all ages, from all walks of life, and all over the world,” said Jennifer Salke, head of Amazon and MGM Studios. “We are excited to work with Henry, Vertigo Entertainment, and Games Workshop across our Amazon entertainment businesses on this brilliant, immersive franchise for our global customers to experience for years to come.”
“I have loved Warhammer since I was a boy, making this moment truly special for me. The opportunity to shepherd this cinematic universe from its inception is quite the honour and the responsibility,” said Henry Cavill. “I couldn’t be more grateful for all the hard work put in by Vertigo, Amazon and Games Workshop to make this happen. One step closer to making a nigh-on lifelong dream come true.”
“It’s great news and we’re absolutely thrilled; we’re working with a fantastic triumvirate in Henry, Vertigo, and Amazon. Henry’s well-known love of Warhammer 40,000—and his passion as a world-builder and storyteller—will serve us all well in the coming years. Finally, Warhammer will make it to the screen as the fans have hoped, and as they deserve. Exciting times!” said Andy Smillie, creative director of GAW.
Vertigo Entertainment’s Roy Lee and Natalie Viscuso (Barbarian, The Lego franchise, the It films, The Departed) partnered with Henry Cavill early on to secure the coveted IP and deliver it to Amazon Studios. Vertigo will executive produce with Cavill and GAW’s Andy Smillie and Max Bottrill alongside Amazon Studios.
Henry Cavill’s numerous projects on the horizon include Matthew Vaughn’s globe-trotting spy thriller Argylle, the highly anticipated reboot of Highlander, Guy Ritchie’s The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare, and Season Three of The Witcher. He is represented by WME.
Cavill took to Instagram for his own announcement about the project:
For 30 years I have dreamt of seeing a Warhammer universe in live action. Now, after 22 years of experience in this industry, I finally feel that I have the skill set and experience to guide a Warhammer Cinematic Universe into life. Partnering with Natalie Viscuso at Vertigo has been a blessing beyond words, without her we might not have found the perfect home at Amazon. And having a home like Amazon will give us the freedom to be true to the massive scope of Warhammer. To all of you Warhammer fans out there, I promise to respect this IP that we love. I promise to bring you something familiar. And I endeavour to bring you something fantastic that is, as of yet, unseen.
Our first steps are to find our Filmmaker/Creator/Writer. Watch this space, my friends.
While the deal is not done, Amazon is in the final talks for the rights to Games Workshop’s world. They have fended off others who see the potential goldmine in the property which remains relatively untapped. Cavill would star in and produce the adaptation along with Vertigo Entertainment which will executive produce. The actor is a known fan of the game, posting photos of his painting Adeptus Custodes miniatures on Instagram as well as talking about the hobby on talk shows.
Warhammer 40,000 is a 35-year-old game that has players building and painting miniatures to build an army and battle it out on the tabletop. Along with rules, the world is massive delivering stories on the macro and micro levels. It’s built its producer Games Workshop into a powerhouse of a business spawning numerous competitors and imitators.
Set 40,000 years from now, humanity is a militaristic society doing battle with aliens like Ork, the elf-like Aeldari, alien-like (as in the other property) Tyranids, daemonic Chaos, anime-inspired T’au, and more.
The world’s history spans over 10 thousand years from the Emperor’s unification of Earth to its expansion to the stars and the eventual betrayal by some of the Emperor’s forces in what’s known as the Horus Heresy and its current battles on multiple fronts. It boasts an ever-evolving story and world, full of shocking and epic moments on a grand scale.
The brilliance of the universe is its stories span massive battles that make the biggest in the Lord of the Rings and Star Wars look like a skirmish to small and focused stories about corruption at the local level. Planets are exterminated with orbital bombardment or crack squads are sent down to eliminate a single threat. The flexibility of stories is vast and unending.
There’s been a few attempts to adapt the world, mostly in animation with a lot of hits and misses. Games Workshop launched Warhammer+, their digital subscription service which included numerous animated series which were generally good. A television series based on the character Gregor Eisenhorn was announced in 2019 with The X-Files exec producer Frank Spotnitz as showrunner.
Games Workshop has focused in recent years on expanding its property beyond the tabletop. Licensing has increased with the property expanding to clothing, other games, cups, animation, toys, and more.
