A new report indicates video game giant Blizzard will team with Netflix to create a brand new Diablo television series.
The report from Revenge of the Fans indicates the new Hellboy writer and BOOM! Studios co-founder Andrew Cosby has been tapped to adapt Diablo into a TV series for the streaming giant.
The news comes off the success of other video game adaptations on Netflix including their animated adaptation of [easyazon_link identifier=”B002I0H1DY” locale=”US” tag=”boundingintocomics-20″]Castlevania[/easyazon_link] and the highly anticipated live-action Witcher adaptation.
Not only has Netflix seen success with their video game adaptations, but Blizzard just recently announced that Diablo would be available on the Nintendo Switch. A recent job posting for a dungeon artist also confirmed Blizzard is working on an “unannounced” Diablo project.
Diablo made its debut on December 31, 1996. The original game was an action role-playing hack and slash game that put players in control of a hero whose mission is to rid the world of Diablo, the Lord of Terror. Players would venture beneath the town of Tristram and eventually into Hell itself in order to face off against Diablo.
The game would spawn an expansion pack as well as two sequels with [easyazon_link identifier=”B00005BV7N” locale=”US” tag=”boundingintocomics-20″]Diablo II[/easyazon_link] in 2000 and [easyazon_link identifier=”B07DR2LS4Z” locale=”US” tag=”boundingintocomics-20″]Diablo III[/easyazon_link] in 2012. There will also be an upcoming comic book series from Titan Comics written by legend Marv Wolfman.
Given the sheer amount of content Cosby has to work with, it’s got me thinking what story lines could he be looking to adapt. Will we see the TV series go back to its roots with a hero taking on the forces of Hell? Or could we see a more recent iteration where a hero fights for the heart of Heaven in order to save creation? Rich in lore and legend Diablo has plenty of source material for Cosby and Netflix to draw from if this report pans out to be true.
It should come as no surprise that Blizzard would want to leverage their huge brands onto other mediums. We already saw them venture into major motion films with the [easyazon_link identifier=”B01GPLE3I2″ locale=”US” tag=”boundingintocomics-20″]Warcraft[/easyazon_link] film and back in 2015 they announced the creation of Activision Blizzard Studios:
“Activision Blizzard (Nasdaq: ATVI) today announced the launch of Activision Blizzard Studios, a new film and television studio devoted to creating original content based on the company’s extensive library of iconic and globally-recognized intellectual properties. Activision Blizzard’s owned content includes some of the most popular entertainment franchises in the world, including Call of Duty®, Skylanders®, Diablo®, Hearthstone® and StarCraft®. Former Disney executive Nick van Dyk has been tapped to co-head the division, along with a senior creative executive who will be announced soon.”
The studio did create Skylanders Academy which debuted on Netflix on October 28, 2016. A third season is expected to be released later this month on September 28th. However, they had also announced they were planning on creating a cinematic universe surrounding Call of Duty. So far, that has not panned out.
Are you interested in seeing Blizzard bring Diablo to the small screen on Netflix? What kind of stories would you like to see them tell?