Best Assassin’s Creed Settings We Want to See in the Series

Since it was first announced in 2020, it has looked like Netflix’s Assassin’s Creed live-action series may not and up getting off the ground. A number of shifts in the creative leadership of the project had given it a bit of a rocky start and caused some fans to worry that it may never see the light of day. But the streaming service has set things right and confirmed that not only is the show moving forward, but they’ve even named showrunners to lead the production.

The series has been entrusted to Roberto Patino and David Wiener, both of whom have extensive experience in television. Patino is best known for shows such as Sons of Anarchy and Westworld, while Wiener has done work on the live-action Halo series for Paramount+ and as a writer-producer on AMC’s Fear the Walking Dead. The two have brought their particular skills in character-driven stories and sci-fi action, and they were more than eager to talk about what that will mean for Assassin’s Creed.

In a statement to The Hollywood Reporter, Patino and Wiener shared how they have been fans of the games for a long time.

“We are huge fans of the Assassin’s Creed franchise and have been since 2007,” they said. “Every day that we work on this show, we are struck by the enormity of the universe it presents and the richness of the stories it can tell. There are these incredible layers of swashbuckling action and historical drama, but at its heart, Assassin’s Creed is a deeply personal story about who we are, why we are here, what we believe in, and the connections that bind us across time.”

They also made it clear that their goals for the series will be to explore some very human questions in the midst of all of the genre-bending action. “This is a show about the power of those human connections, across time and cultures, and what happens when we lose them,” the statement continued. “With the best team at Ubisoft and strong backing from Netflix, we couldn’t be more excited about building this world and telling this story for fans all over the world.”

Assassin’s Creed is a series with the ability to offer viewers a vast array of stories to explore. Launched in 2007 with a major focus on what was then called “social stealth” set against the backdrop of the Crusades in the Holy Land, the series became one of the top players in action gaming and has never looked back. But where the franchise really began to hit its stride was with Assassin’s Creed II and the subsequent Brotherhood and Revelations, which each took place in various periods during the Italian Renaissance and showcased a main character, Ezio Auditore, who quickly became the face of Assassin’s Creed.

Across the 14 mainline titles that have been released over the last 18 years, Assassin’s Creed has sent players from an alternate history of the Revolutionary War to feudal Japan to the Golden Age of Piracy to steamy Victorian London and beyond, with each new entry placing its focus on an entirely new cast of characters and often introducing a new twist or direction on the familiar formula. The most recent entry to the series, Assassin’s Creed Shadows, saw the franchise dive deeper into its new open-world RPG format to tell the story of a ninja assassin in feudal Japan. It was well received by players in part because Ubisoft decided to delay the title to ensure that the final product would have more polish and time to shine, something that all fans of the series are hoping will also be a goal of the Netflix adaptation.

Details on the Netflix adaptation remain largely unconfirmed, but we can at least be sure that the series will be based at least somewhat on the core premise with which the games have made fans familiar over the years. The story will likely involve characters from the modern world using technology or devices that unlock genetic memory to relive the lives of their ancestors, all caught up in the millennia-old conflict between Assassins and Templars. It is unclear whether the Netflix show will reference the events of the movie or even feature any of the same characters; while all signs indicate that it won’t, it’s not impossible that a loose connection could be made.

Fans have good reason to be both excited and wary about the news of the series. Though an Assassin’s Creed movie was released in 2016 with Michael Fassbender as its star, the feature film had disappointing reviews and ended up playing a negligible role in the success or impact of the franchise. With the HBO series The Last of Us proving that video games can be a source of strong, critically-acclaimed television storytelling, and Netflix’s ongoing commitment to high-quality genre television in fantasy and science fiction, there’s no doubt that Assassin’s Creed could see a bright future if it’s done right. But the series is massive, covering millennia of history, an almost-infinite number of settings, and dozens of main characters all connected by a story in the present day. Finding a balance of those elements will be critical for the series to achieve any success.

But while we wait to hear more about casting or potential timelines or even whether any of the periods covered by the games will be focused on more heavily in the series, at least there is the sense that the show will be given a chance to become a reality. With Roberto Patino and David Wiener at the head and the commitment of Ubisoft and Netflix behind it, Assassin’s Creed may finally find its way to a successful television adaptation.

Video game adaptations are beginning to find their place in the pantheon of entertainment, and Assassin’s Creed has every reason to be a significant part of that conversation if the same care is taken with its story and character as has been with the games over the last two decades.