The Assassin’s Creed Timeline Is Perfect for a TV Series

An Assassin’s Creed live-action television series has officially been greenlit by Netflix, bringing a perennial video game franchise to the small screen for the first time in earnest.

Netflix originally began development on Assassin’s Creed in 2020, though the series’ production has taken a winding path ever since. The streaming giant has finally appointed a new set of showrunners, consisting of Roberto Patino and David Wiener.

Patino has previously written for FX’s Sons of Anarchy and HBO’s Westworld, while Wiener has taken the lead on Paramount+’s upcoming Halo series as well as Fear the Walking Dead for AMC.

A joint statement by Patino and Wiener accompanied Netflix’s announcement.

“We’ve been fans of Assassin’s Creed since it first released 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,” they said. “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.”

Patino and Wiener added that they’re both working closely with Ubisoft to ensure that the live-action series hits all the right notes for fans of the Assassin’s Creed games.

“The team at Ubisoft is amazing and their commitment to excellence is unmatched,” they said. “This will be a show undeniable for fans all over the planet.”

Ubisoft has kept relatively quiet on Assassin’s Creed since the release of the first trailer for Shadows last year, but its executive vice president of live service and gaming at Ubisoft has expressed excitement at the creative teams working on the Netflix series.

What Can We Expect from the Assassin’s Creed Series?

Ubisoft first introduced the Assassin’s Creed series back in 2007, releasing the first entry as a “social stealth” action game during the Crusades. While the original proved popular and put the face of Ezio Auditore on the map, it was the Assassin’s Creed II Renaissance Italy trilogy that became the franchise’s seminal entry, combining engaging historical fiction, philosophical musings, and top-notch combat in a new blockbuster package.

Over the last 18 years, Assassin’s Creed has released 14 mainline games. Shifting from stealth-oriented mechanics to a broader open-world RPG experience, the setting has changed drastically to include: the American Revolution, the Golden Age of Piracy in the Caribbean, Revolutionary France and London, Ancient Egypt, Classical Greece, Viking-age Britain, and last year’s debut in Baghdad during the Islamic Golden Age.

Assassin’s Creed: Shadows, the most recent installment, has proven a hit with both long-time players and new audiences after years of the franchise’s reputation faltering. Set in feudal Japan, a fan-favorite locale previously introduced as a side-story in Origins, Shadows has been heralded for streamlining the more recent RPG direction of the Assassin’s Creed series while retaining the elements that longtime fans fell in love with. One reason for the game’s success has been the patience Ubisoft has shown for recent Assassin’s Creed releases, waiting years to avoid the rushed quality of the previous game.

It’s a lesson that Netflix will no doubt bear in mind as it approaches the Assassin’s Creed series, but there are a few reasons to think that’s in the works. The new live-action television series is in very early stages of production, and the streaming service has expressed intent to take a slow and steady approach to production.

One story thread Assassin’s Creed is not expected to touch on is the Assassin’s Creed movie. Starring Michael Fassbender as the series’ most popular character, Assassin’s Creed was a moderate hit at the box office but has been divisive amongst fans. It’s been several years since the movie’s release, and Netflix has yet to comment on whether the television series will ignore, incorporate, or reference the film.

One thing is for certain: with a growing trend in games-to-screen adaptations and a need for large-scale, high-budget fantasy-historical shows on streaming, now seems like a good time for Assassin’s Creed to hit the small screen.