As the Warhammer 40,000 franchise enjoys its biggest era of mainstream popularity so far (in part thanks to video games wins like Space Marine 2), Games Workshop and Amazon MGM Studios have jointly announced a TV series is moving forward, with Henry Cavill starring and executive producing.
The timing of the announcement is no coincidence, arriving alongside Secret Level's premiere on Prime Video – one of the shorts is based on Space Marine 2 – and dangerously close to the end of a December 2024 deadline established by Games Workshop a while back as the limit to reach an agreement on the creative vision governing the tentative adaptation efforts at Amazon.
While we don't know when Games Workshop and the studio agreed on the creative guidelines internally, Deadline shared the news on December 10, with the official Warhammer Community blog confirming it shortly afterward, adding that the TV series set to enter active development is just the first in a set of projects that have been planned out to form a larger, cohesive narrative. Later, Henry Cavill added some kind and exciting words to the announcement via Instagram.
According to Games Workshop's legal announcement, Amazon MGM Studios now has exclusive rights to fully develop "films and television series set within the Warhammer 40,000 universe." But there's also an interesting nugget included that's been overlooked by some publications: Games Workshop has granted "an option for Amazon to license equivalent rights in the Warhammer Fantasy universe following the release of any initial Warhammer 40,000 production." It looks like there's a lot riding on this first TV series.
Both the legal announcement and the Warhammer Community blog post underline that it might take a few years to get anything ready for release, but that's just how film and TV development works. For now, we can only hope the writing process goes smoothly whether the story focuses on the mighty Space Marines or something else entirely.
This marks yet another aggressive move by Amazon into the arena of giant franchises. Fallout is now shooting its second season; the long-awaited Mass Effect TV show was recently announced; God of War is being rewritten as we speak; and The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power is well on its way to completing its planned five-season arc.
