The gears of filmmaking are finally turning for the Watch Dogs adaptation, according to a fresh report by Deadline. The film will be produced at New Regency Pictures by Yariv Milchan and Natalie Lehmann, alongside Margaret Boykin for Ubisoft Film & Television.
New Regency has also produced Ubisoft’s previous major franchise adaptation, 2016’s Assassin’s Creed film starring Michael Fassbender. More recently, the studio made Bohemian Rhapsody, Ad Astra, The Northman, and Barbarian.
The Watch Dogs film was originally announced ten years ago when Zombieland writers Paul Wernick and Rhett Reese were set to lay down the script. However, things have changed. That was meant to be a direct adaptation of the first game, featuring Aiden Pearce as the protagonist, whereas this movie has been written by Christie Leblanc, whose only credits include the 2021 Netflix film Oxygène starring Melanie Laurent. It will be an original screenplay featuring another protagonist played by Sophie Wilde. The actress starred in 2022’s Talk to Me feature film and, more recently, in Netflix’s TV series Boy Swallows Universe. She’ll also be in the upcoming thriller Babygirl with Nicole Kidman, Antonio Banderas, and Jean Reno.
The Watch Dogs movie will be directed by Mathieu Turi, whose credits include 2017’s Hostile, 2020’s Meander, and 2023’s The Deep Dark. Turi is no stranger to adapting game franchises, as he’s also working on the TV series based on A Plague Tale: Innocence. Details on the plot are still largely kept under wraps. However, it seems like the project is on the correct track now.
This isn’t Ubisoft’s only adaptation. The company has plans to adapt most of its game franchises to the big or small screen, and the next step is the Assassin’s Creed Netflix live action TV series announced over three years ago. There was also supposed to be a live action Driver adaptation in development at Binge, and even Skull & Bones was announced in 2019 to be adapted into a TV series, but not all these projects might come to fruition.
