Splinter Cell Animated Series Coming to Netflix From John Wick Creator

Splinter Cell might be entirely missing from Ubisoft's catalog as of late, but apparently that doesn't mean the publisher isn't opposed to multimedia involving everyone's favorite stealth operative. Variety reports that Ubisoft and Netflix are teaming up to create an animated series adaptation of Sam Fisher's exploits.

Splinter Cell is being adapted by Derek Kolstad, the creator and writer behind the John Wick films. Kolstad will write and executive produce the series, which already has a two-season, 16 episode order at Netflix. There's no further specifics about the show, including production studio, art style, or even which Splinter Cell games Kolstad is adapting.

It's worth noting that this isn't the first Splinter Cell project in development. There was a Splinter Cell film starring Tom Hardy as Sam Fisher, originally announced back in 2012. The last we heard of the film was back in 2017, when producer Basil Iwanyk told Collider that a new version of the script was done and handed over to Hardy for approval. At the time, Iwanyk even name-dropped John Wick when asked about a potential content rating: "No, it’s not going to be like [John] Wick, but it’s going to be badass," he explained.

This isn't even the only Ubisoft project in production at Netflix. Last year, the streaming giant announced that it was picking up The Division, a film based on the Tom Clancy video games of the same name. The film will star Jessica Chastain and Jake Gyllenhaal, directed by Kolstad's former John Wick colleague David Leitch. Leitch last talked about the film in August last year, when he stated they were waiting on a firm script. Currently, he's producing Nobody, an action-thriller written by Kolstad.

Kolstad was also previously attached to two other video game adaptations. Back in 2017, he signed on to write the pilot for a Hitman television series for Hulu. Kolstad was also slated to executive produce the film alongside Adrian Askarieh. Askarieh re-teamed with Kolstad in 2019, acquiring the film rights to Square Enix and Avalanche Software's Just Cause series. The latter seems to be much closer to actual production, having signed Stuber and Coffee & Kareem director Michael Dowse to helm the film.

Outside of video game adaptations, Kolstad was on the writing team for Marvel Studios' The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, which was originally scheduled to launch on Disney+, but has been delayed due to the pandemic.

There's no planned release window for the series. If you're still hungry for Sam Fisher in the meantime, you can run alongside the super-spy in Ghost Recon Breakpoint.