As related previously, Amazon and Games Workshop entered talks in late 2022 to bring the Warhammer 40,000 IP to the screen across multiple projects, potentially for both TV and film, with Cavill advising, producing and potentially starring. In December 2023, the two companies signed a more comprehensive agreement on the project. In December 2024, the two companies agreed to move forward with the project, although that seems to have been more of an amber light than a green light.
Flanagan and United Artists (UA) have now joined the team. Flanagan is a writer-director with considerable recent cred from his adaptations of Stephen King works, particularly Gerald's Game (2017) and Doctor Sleep (2019). He is also the writer-director of Oculus (2013), Hush (2016) and The Life of Chuck (2024). He is also the writer-producer-showrunner of The Haunting of Hill House (2018), The Haunting of Bly Manor (2020), Midnight Mass (2021), The Midnight Club (2022) and The Fall of the House of Usher (2023). He is also in charge of the upcoming Stephen King mini-series Carrie, also for Amazon, and is attached to an Exorcist reboot project. Most notably, he has been planning an ambitious, true-to-the-books adaptation of Stephen King's The Dark Tower sequence for many years.
Whilst Warhammer 40,000 is predominantly an action franchise, it has strong horror and body horror elements, as well as a satirical tone. Flanagan's sensibilities seem in tune with the franchise, so it will be interesting to see if he can help this project get over the production line after four years of discussions.
Created in 1987, Warhammer 40,000 is a science fantasy franchise set 39,000 years in the future and incorporates elements of space opera, horror, military fiction and dark, satirical comedy. The ruthless Imperium of Man controls a vast swathe of the galaxy, but is beset on every side by external alien threats: the brutish Orks, the scheming Tau, the ancient Necrons, the hive-minded Tyranids and the arrogant Eldar, amongst others. The Imperium is also weakened from within by Chaos cults, worshippers of the dark Chaos Gods who dream of turning the Imperium into a charnel house of worship of the Ruinous Powers. Originating as a tabletop wargame, the franchise has expanded across well over 600 novels, short story collections and audio plays, alongside dozens of video games, numerous spin-off board games and hundreds of wargame sourcebooks and tabletop roleplaying rulebooks.
The lengthy discussion process has probably been down to Games Workshop's exacting standards of quality control. Previous proposed film and TV projects foundered on Games Workshop requiring to maintain creative control over all visual elements of the setting, since their bread and butter is the massive range of miniature models and accompanying artwork based on them. Most TV adaptations seem to want to change elements (sometimes for practical reasons, sometimes just changing things for the sake of change), which Games Workshop likely would like to avoid to prevent any disputes over the ownership of visual elements of the franchise. There have also been concerns over lore and fidelity to the source material, with some recent TV projects (including Amazon's own Wheel of Time and Rings of Power series) being fiercely criticised for large deviations from the source material. Warhammer 40,000 author Dan Abnett has also indicated that Games Workshop is lining up its future runs of novels and big lore expansions with the TV show, so GW is undertaking a careful curating of the property across multiple incarnations to make sure everything lines up.
Back in 2019 Games Workshop partnered with veteran US screenwriter Frank Spotnitz (The X-Files, The Man in the High Castle) on a potential adaptation of the classic 40K novel trilogy Eisenhorn. No broadcaster was attached, but Spotnitz had previously worked with Amazon The Man in the High Castle.
Both companies have clarified that the current deal is for Warhammer 40,000 alone, but the deal could incorporate fantasy franchises Warhammer and Warhammer: Age of Sigmar further down the line.
Games Workshop is currently working on a CGI TV series about the Deathwatch Space Marines. The franchise is also set for a boom in popularity with the long-awaited video game Dawn of War IV set for release on 17 September, and Total War: Warhammer 40,000 is expected to follow in 2027.
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