Netflix reveals its latest video game adaptation - and it looks incredible

Netflix and Prime Video have gone big on animation in the last couple of years, and Netflix’s next adaptation is based on beloved video game series.

Game publisher Ubisoft has dropped a teaser for the upcoming Netflix show Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell: Deathwatch.

It's a brief, but moody and atmospheric trailer that establishes the show as a revenge thriller.

Sure, you may know Tom Clancy as a famous author, but the first piece of Splinter Cell to be released was the original game for Xbox, from 2002.

It follows the stealthy adventures of Sam Fisher, a fictional operative who lurks in the shadows and takes out legions of bad guys before they even know he’s there.

The game series was super-popular back in the day, but the last instalment was 2013’s Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell: Blacklist. Series novels have continued to be pumped out, though, the last being Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell: Dragonfire (written by James Swallow) from 2023.

Ubisoft’s Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell: Deathwatch suggests the show focuses on an older Sam Fisher, who is seen with a grey beard in the teaser. And, as we all know, that means he’s a bit wisened and world-weary by the conventions of games and their adaptations.

Liev Schreiber stars as Sam Fisher, taking on the baton from gravelly voiced legend Michael Ironside, who voiced Fisher in the games.

Ironside, currently 74, commented on the recasting in a recent interview with The Nerd Shepherd.

“I’ll be 75 in the spring. There’s no way I should be playing Sam Fisher. I can’t be a part of the series because if I open my mouth, they’ll know it’s Sam,” said Ironside.

But why bring back to the spotlight a game series that has been basically dormant for a decade?

It’s not quite as sleepy as you might think. Ubisoft has been working on a remake of the original Splinter Cell, as announced in December 2021.

We haven’t heard a great deal from Ubisoft about progress since. And there are fresh worries about its future given reportedly weak sales of Star Wars: Outlaws saw the publisher’s stock price tumble to the lowest it has been in a decade.

This is also not the first time Sam Fisher has been in a Netflix animation. A younger version of the character also appeared in Captain Laserhawk: A Blood Dragon Remix, a 2023 animation series inspired by Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon.

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