The Last of Us might not be the first ever great video game adaptation to hit the big-or-small screen — that would be Resident Evil, obvs — but it's certainly the best. With critical acclaim and audience adoration in abundance, Sony and HBO really nailed it here: a tragic post-apocalyptic tale beloved by gamers far and wide, retold in a meaningfully expansive way, making great use of its new visual form.
They've certainly set a new benchmark for the genre. So what of the next PlayStation titles making their way to Hollywood? There are quite a few of them: take Amazon's God of War series, the Ghost of Tsushima movie from John Wick director Chad Stahelski, or the Horizon Zero Dawn collab with Netflix. All promising on paper, just like The Last of Us, but can they live up to those loftiest of expectations? Right now they're one-for-two (sorry, Uncharted…)
Here's our guide to all of the PlayStation Productions movies and TV series' coming to a screen near you.
TV
God of War
Prime Video (date TBC)
A series order for Amazon's adaptation of God of War, one of PlayStation's most widely heralded exclusives (the latest one, Ragnarök, sold 5.1 million copies in the first week) was confirmed by Deadline in December. We know Rafe Judkins (Amazon's The Wheel of Time) will serve as the series showrunner, supported by Mark Fergus and Hawk Ostby (Children of Men, Iron Man) on writing duties. Those are some fine back-room bonafides.
According to Deadline, the series will pick up cues from the soft series reboot on the PlayStation 4, following the story of “Kratos, the God of War, who, after exiling himself from his blood-soaked past in ancient Greece, hands up his weapons forever in the Norse realm of Midgard." Like God of War on the PS4, it's set to be a tale of father-son discovery, albeit with buckets of deity blood.
No casting news for this one yet, but OG Kratos voice actor Christopher Judge has gotta play the big guy — surely? Indeed.
Twisted Metal
Peacock (date TBC)
Anthony Mackie is set to lead this post-apocalyptic action-comedy road movie, inspired by the demolition derby series of games that ran from the PlayStation 1 in the mid-nineties right through to the PS3 in 2012.
An official synopsis from streamer Peacock makes the series sound very, very Mad Max: Fury Road. Mackie will portray “a motor-mouthed outsider offered a chance at a better life,” it reads, "but only if he can successfully deliver a mysterious package across a post-apocalyptic wasteland.
Scream's Neve Campbell stars in a recurring guest role, along with the likes of Thomas Haden Church (the Sandman in Spider-Man 3), the WWE's Samoa Joe, Brooklyn Nine-Nine's Stephanie Beatriz and Richard Cabral.
Horizon Zero Dawn
Netflix (date TBC)
Perhaps the most obvious pick for a narrative adaptation next to The Last of Us, Uncharted and God of War of PlayStation's extensive IP catalogue, the Horizon franchise is set to follow in the footsteps of The Witcher with a big-budget Netflix series. The video games follow Aloy, a young female warrior in a post-apocalyptic USA, the landscape dominated by animalistic robots known as “machines.” Humankind has been reduced to primitive tribes, retaining various levels of technological know-how.
We don't know much about the series, though Steve Blackman, the head honcho behind Netflix's The Umbrella Academy, will be the showrunner for the live-action show, as part of his overall deal with the streamer signed back in February 2020.
“Horizon Zero Dawn is an exceptionally well-crafted game with wonderful characters not often seen in the rank-and-file of the gaming world,” Blackman said in conversation with Netflix's blog, Tudum. He confirmed that the series protagonist, Aloy, will be the main character in his adaptation. “My writing partner on this, Michelle Lovretta, and I are thrilled to be able to expand this remarkable IP into a series for all types of viewers.”
Movies
Gran Turismo
Movie (11 August, 2023)
A coming-of-age movie? Based on a racing game? Do tell more. Neil Blomkamp, the South African filmmaker of District 9 and Chappie fame, is directing less an adaptation of the game itself so much as a sports biopic inspired by the true story of Jann Mardenborough, a teenager who took his Gran Turismo skills all the way to the real-world professional race track.
Filming began in Hungary last year, with an all-star ensemble including the likes of Stranger Things' David Harbour, Orlando Bloom and Djimon Hounsou (plus one of our favourite Spice Girls, Geri Halliwell). Archie Madekwe, best known for the Apple TV+ series See and A24's cult horror movie Midsommar, portrays Mardenborough, as he races his way through digital fame and beyond.
A sneak peek dropped a couple of weeks ago, and yeah, it looks like… Gran Turismo!
Ghost of Tsushima
Movie (date TBC)
Widely considered one of the best games to hit the PlayStation 5 — subtitled Director's Cut after an initial release on the PS4 — Ghost of Tsushima centres on the story of Jin Sakai, a samurai charged to defend the titular island of Tsushima from the invading Mongol hordes. Critics celebrated its expansive open world, character depth and moral complexity, with… slightly overstated comparisons to the cinematic works of Akira Kurosawa.
A movie adaptation was announced back in March 2021, with John Wick director Chad Stahelski at the helm. In conversation with Collider this past August, the 54-year-old ex-stuntman and filmmaker confirmed that his adaptation will be “a complete Japanese cast, in Japanese,” staying true to its video game roots.
That may “scare the shit out of most people,” Stahelski conceded — something, something, one-inch barriers — but Sony is “backing [him] on that,” and “Western audiences in general are getting more and more used to [subtitles].”
“It's done with reverence to [Kurosawa],” he continued, “who's probably in the top five biggest influences of my life as far as the film goes. It's a chance to push technology and people in a story that's timeless. … So, I think if we did this right, it would be visually stunning. It's got an opportunity for great action, great looks.” Sounds like it's in good hands.
