Amazon’s upcoming animated anthology Secret Level looks to bring many of the most loved gaming franchises in history to your screen, and for some, it’s the very first time they’ve left the gaming realm.
Secret Level is created by Tim Miller, who you may know as director of the first Deadpool movie or as the creator of Netflix’s animated anthology series Love, Death & Robots. Yeah, he has plenty of experience in this space, and during the Lucca Comic and Games convention, he spoke to Variety about his upcoming project.
One of the biggest titles set to appear in Secret Level is Dungeons & Dragons, but despite the tabletop game franchise recently getting a big screen adaption, there were no fears that the Amazon iteration would step on any toes. In fact, the team was even given clear directions from the game developers.
“We weren’t worried about stepping all over that. Here, the developer told us the focus needed to be on this five-headed dragon,” Miller explained when speaking to Variety. They said: ‘We want a dragon like you’ve never seen f*****g dragons before.’ That was the goal of the short.”
We won’t lie, that sounds just about as cool as a Dungeons & Dragons story can get, and we couldn’t be more excited to see it when Secret Level drops later this year. It’s unclear exactly how this short will look, though Miller’s iconic use of a variety of animation styles for Love, Death & Robots might provide the blueprint in terms of Secret Level‘s visuals.
For the most part, the plan was to make these shorts look like refined versions of their source material. However, Miller explained that for some franchises this just wasn’t possible. So when it comes to Mega Man or Pac Man, expect to see visuals more akin to what you would expect from Love, Death & Robots. We don’t expect anyone will be complaining about that given just how good the Netflix show is, and just how good it looks.
Adapting video games for the screen has always been a challenge that has seen mixed results, but it appears that the Secret Level team is more than up for the task. Miller says that they’ve worked closely with the developers of the featured games to get further insights into the lore, and to gain perspectives that will help the series remain true to the games. All that while still ensuring that the episodes are accessible and entertaining for viewers who haven’t played the games themselves.
There will be 15 short episodes in Secret Level, all based on different game franchises. Some of these are new and others are vintage. Here’s a look at the full list.
- PAC-MAN
- Warhammer 40,000
- Concord
- Mega Man
- Unreal Tournament
- New World: Aeternum
- Armored Core
- Spelunky
- Honor of Kings
- Sifu
- Dungeons & Dragons
- The Outer Worlds
- Crossfire
- Exodus
- PlayStation
We will get a full look at whether Miller has pulled off the feat later this year, with Secret Level arriving on Prime Video on Dec. 10, 2024. You can get a taste of what is to come thanks to the announcement trailer that has already been released is available to watch on YouTube above. Perhaps season two will tell the story of tabletop game Operation, at which point we’d probably need to cover our eyes.