- calendar_today August 6, 2025
Assassin’s Creed Series Finds Its Showrunners at Last
Ubisoft’s Assassin’s Creed is getting a Netflix live-action series after the project has been in development hell since at least 2020. Following reports that Netflix was preparing a TV series based on the long-running Assassin’s Creed games and had worked on the project at an early stage, Netflix has formally confirmed that the series is in production and is currently on the lookout for two showrunners to lead it.
In a new report, Netflix confirmed that Assassin’s Creed has been greenlit as a live-action series. The streaming giant has now secured a pair of showrunners to bring the Ubisoft series to life. The project’s showrunners will be Roberto Patino and David Wiener, with Patino’s previous writing credits including FX’s Sons of Anarchy and HBO’s Westworld, and Wiener helming Paramount+’s live-action Halo series and AMC’s Fear the Walking Dead.
Patino and Wiener made a joint statement after Netflix greenlit the series.
“We’ve been fans of Assassin’s Creed since its release in 2007. Every day we work on this show, we come away excited and humbled by the possibilities that Assassin’s Creed opens to us,” the two wrote. “Beneath the scope, the spectacle, the parkour and the thrills is a baseline for the most essential kind of human story—about people searching for purpose, struggling with questions of identity and destiny and faith. It is about power and violence and sex and greed and vengeance. But more than anything, this is a show about the value of human connection, transcending cultures and time. And it’s about what we stand to lose as a species when those connections break.”
They added, “We are working closely with Ubisoft and Netflix to figure out what version of Assassin’s Creed is the best. And the one we’re making will be undeniable for fans all over the planet. We’ve got an amazing team working on this, and we can’t wait to tell you more.”
A Quick Look at Assassin’s Creed
Assassin’s Creed debuted in 2007 as an action-based social stealth game, set in a historical setting and rooted in the actual events and architecture of the period. As its reputation grew, 2016’s Assassin’s Creed Syndicate starring the original female assassin Lucy staked its claim in popular culture as one of the most well-known video game franchises of all time. It was Ubisoft’s Assassin’s Creed II trilogy, set in Renaissance Italy, Brotherhood, and Revelations, that truly cemented the series as a household name.
Ubisoft’s action series has grown over its 18-year history to include 14 mainline releases that have evolved over the years from stealth-focused gameplay to more action-packed open-world RPGs. The period and setting have varied wildly over the years, with games covering everything from the American Revolution to the Golden Age of Piracy in the Caribbean, Revolutionary Paris, and Victorian London to Ancient Egypt, Classical Greece, and Viking-era Britain. The most recent entry, Assassin’s Creed: Shadows, has been lauded by players for streamlining the Assassin’s Creed’s more recent RPG-focused formula while delivering the core aspects players have come to expect from the series over the years.
The newest installment in the series, Assassin’s Creed: Shadows, set in feudal Japan, was received well upon release and was seen as an immediate win for the franchise by critics and players. One reason cited was Ubisoft’s decision to delay the game’s launch rather than releasing a product it knew would be flawed and below standard. As a result, the publisher has committed to another delay for its next mainline release in order to bring a fully polished game to consumers. It remains to be seen if Netflix will take a similar approach.
Teaser Details on the Series
The specifics of what the series will be about and where it is set are not yet available, but as with the video games, the premise will center on the long-running feud between the Assassins and the Templars, two opposing secret societies that have been fighting for the future of humanity since the dawn of civilization. The device around which the game’s story centers is called the Animus, and it is the Animus that modern characters use to relive their ancestors’ memories, which can place the player in various important historical settings across the world.
Details about the cast and story have not been released. But considering the TV series will likely cover a large number of characters and settings just as the video games have, there’s already speculation from fans about whether the show will tie into any of the characters that have appeared in previous games, or if Netflix and Ubisoft are looking to the show to focus on the introduction of a new set of players. This seems to be likely, as the feature film from 2016, which starred Michael Fassbender, went its route in terms of narrative.
The Fassbender film is a soft reboot and a spin-off from the rest of the series and was a slight success at the box office, but its critical reception was lukewarm at best. It is unclear if Netflix’s Assassin’s Creed series will acknowledge the film in its narrative at all or disregard it altogether. But the fact that streaming services are picking up on more and more lore-heavy, high-budget properties and gaming series is no longer niche, making this an ideal time for a reboot or refresh of the Assassin’s Creed.
Netflix’s Assassin’s Creed comes at a time when adaptations based on video games are slowly picking up steam, with more in development as well as where they’re being received with open arms. While 2023’s HBO series The Last of Us has become the new gold standard for both action/adventure game adaptations as well as being super faithful and emotionally resonant, Netflix has also had success with The Witcher, a series it owns the rights to, and is based on a series of novels and supplements to it.
The Witcher itself has had its fair share of creative and casting woes. Assassin’s Creed is seen as one of the strongest IPs in the gaming space, but if The Witcher and Netflix’s struggles with it are any indication, the right people in key creative positions are vital. If handled well, this Netflix series has all the pieces to work, and with its high-budget, globe-spanning lore, action-packed scenes, and cool, high-concept storylines, Assassin’s Creed has what it takes to be one of the fantasy-historical epics of the streaming age.
For now, updates on Assassin’s Creed will likely be forthcoming as Netflix and Ubisoft work on showrunners, filming, casting, and the creative process. Fans can watch this space for more.
