Warhammer 40k fans rejoice! It’s been a whole year since the plans for Henry Cavill to lead an Amazon Prime Video show based on the epic fantasy franchise were unveiled. Even so, it’s taken all this time for the contractual minutia to be worked out. But now — finally — all involved have signed on the dotted line.
As per a press release on the official Warhammer site they’ve “signed the full agreement” and now “the next stage can begin!”
Now that the “i”s are being dotted and the “t”s being crossed, it’s time to properly begin the creative process. Henry Cavill — arguably the world’s most prominent Warhammer 40k fan — will be the show’s executive producer, and he is busy assembling a team of screenwriters to forge something special from this sprawling franchise.
It seems Cavill will be very hands-on as a producer, being involved in the writing process, presumably eventually assembling directors and cast members and — we assume — playing a starring role in the show.
After such a long wait it’s great to hear the the wheels are finally turning. That said, it’s still early days, but the announcement also gives us an indication of when Warhammer will arrive.
The Warhammer release window
According to Games Workshop, they expect this “mammoth undertaking” to take “two to three years” to realize. Our bet is that 2024 will be spent in development and pre-production, the shoot taking place in early 2025, and post-production taking us through to an eventual release of mid-late 2026.
That may seem like a long way away now, but we’re on the cusp of 2024 and those months should fly by. Helping matters is that the Warhammer 40k adaptation team are promising a drip feed of information about the project, including whatever “cool snippets” they’re able to show off.
Some hints as to what Cavill would like to focus on came courtesy of an interview he did earlier this year. There he explained that Blood Angels were his chapter, together with the Salamanders. Cavill has also expressed interest in the Grey Knights — the ultimate demon hunters.
How exactly that’s going to translate to a TV series is as yet unknown. Cavill may choose to adapt an existing Warhammer 40k story (and lord knows there’s enough lore) for the show, or simply tell something set within this world that’s never been seen before.
Either way, Cavill himself strapping on some space marine armor feels like a dead cert and, at least in this instance, him being Executive Producer should avoid a The Witcher-style debacle over faithfulness to the original stories.
Let’s face it, Amazon Prime Video could do with a monster hit to match The Boys. Season 1 of The Rings of Power failed to impress and, while we will watch season 2 that show proves that simply throwing money at a show doesn’t necessarily equal quality. But with Cavill’s obvious passion for the franchise burning brightly at its core, we’re extremely hyped to see what becomes of Amazon’s Warhammer 40K.