Games WorkshopIt’s a hell of a time for live-action adaptations of popular fantasy dramas. In addition to the impending Netflix take on The Witcher, Games Workshop has announced that a show based on the Warhammer 40K universe is on the way.
The new show will be called Eisenhorn, and is being developed as a collaboration between Games Workshop and Frank Spotnitz’s Big Light Productions. Spotnitz is perhaps best known for his adaptation of of The Man in the High Castle for Amazon, which has been well-received by critics.
Pixel Hero GamesFans of the Warhammer 40K novels will already be familiar with the character of Gregor Eisenhorn, an Inquisitor who works with a team of investigators to uncover the conspiracies and schemes of “aliens, heretics, and daemons” who intend on corrupting and destroying the Imperium of Mankind once and for all.
The character also starred in a 2016 PC game called Eisenhorn: Xenos, which was based on the first book in the Eisenhorn trilogy. It was nowhere near as well received as the novels, so fans don’t really talk about it.
Dan Abnett, the man behind the novels in which Eisenhorn appears, said:
Gregor Eisenhorn is a relentless force in the dark future of the Warhammer universe: A destroyer of daemons and a purger of heretics, implacable, powerful and dedicated. But the appeal to me, from the moment I started writing him, was his complexity. He is not the simple, ruthless hero he appears to be. His battle with the Warp leads him into dark places and forces him to question his duty, his understanding of the Imperium, and his own identity. With Eisenhorn, it’s not just the adventures, and they are certainly vivid: it’s the journey he takes to the very limits of what he is and what it means to be loyal.
Games WorkshopIt’s early days for the project right now, so we don’t have any real details on casting or plot just yet, but expect it to stay fairly true to Abnett’s novels. Reports also suggest the show will blend fantasy, sci-fi, and crime drama, with a dash of political intrigue.
Eisenhorn also marks the first live-action Warhammer TV show, so I’d imagine Games Workshop has high hopes for it so they can build a shared universe of 40K shows. That’s the done thing these days.
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Ewan Moore is a journalist at UNILAD Gaming who still quite hasn’t gotten out of his mid 00’s emo phase. After graduating from the University of Portsmouth in 2015 with a BA in Journalism & Media Studies (thanks for asking), he went on to do some freelance words for various places, including Kotaku, Den of Geek, and TheSixthAxis, before landing a full time gig at UNILAD in 2016.