Twice now film executives have attempted to make IO Interactive’s Hitman series into a movie, and both times the final result ended up being a bit of a disappointment. Now, video streaming service Hulu is seeing how the Hitman IP will fare as a television series after approving a new Hitman TV project spearheaded by John Wick creator Derek Kolstad.
Details are scarce, but according to Deadline, Kolstad (who wrote the scripts for the first and upcoming third John Wick movies) will both pen the pilot script for the Hitman TV series and serve as executive producer for the series as a whole. The series will be overseen by both Hulu and its production partner, Fox 21.
Reports suggest that Hulu and Fox 21 want the TV series to adhere closely to Io Interactive’s source material, with the end goal being that the project eventually becomes a new flagship series for Hulu. Whether the TV series will be based off of one of the Hitman games or will instead utilize its own original narrative remains to be seen.
Given the fact that Io Interactive’s newest Hitman game (which originally launched last year) utilized an episodic format and will likely continue to do so for its highly anticipated second content season, a narrative told in episodic TV show format could be just the ticket for making the Hitman franchise work in a visual medium.
Here’s to hoping the TV series can avoid the pitfall which the two Hitman movies fell into, like trying to take a more action-focused approach when the Hitman game series has always been primarily about stealth and clean executions. For more on Hitman, be sure to read our review for the latest game’s Game of the Year Edition upgrade.