Ubisoft’s Watch Dogs franchise is an odd one. After three major game releases that failed to make it nearly as big as Assassin’s Creed and some transmedia playfulness, Ubisoft is doubling down on the idea of bringing it to the big screen. Now, the publisher and New Regency have landed yet another big star to spearhead the cast.
The surprising project is being fast-tracked as we speak, with the studio and Ubisoft recently recruiting Talk to Me’s breakout star Sophie Wilde and now looking into bringing Tom Blyth, of Hunger Games fame, into the fold.
Deadline broke the news on June 5, also adding that Wilde’s deal is now closed alongside her co-star’s. In a less surprising move, French genre director Mathieu Turi (The Deep Dark, Meander) was tapped to direct the movie. If you can remember that misfire, the Assassin’s Creed movie (released in late 2016) was helmed by Justin Kurzel, another director with a markedly auteur-ish curriculum. The script comes from Christie LeBlanc (Oxygen) with new revisions by Victoria Bata (Best Dressed).
Blyth is a welcome addition to the cast given his commanding and flexible presence in the surprisingly notable Hunger Games prequel released last year, The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes. As for Wilde, she also delivered some memorable acting in Talk to Me’s most horrifying scenes. Going with a younger cast of up-and-coming actors for the main roles and then (possibly) filling out the rest with veterans is the kind of good call that’s served well other franchise-starters in the past. That said, it remains to be seen how much of a real interest from a mainstream audience there is in Watch Dogs’ world of hackers and hidden wars against criminals and oppressive regimes.
If Ubisoft’s approach to adapting the world of Assassin’s Creed with a complementary story instead of a retelling of one of the games (one of the movie’s smartest decisions) is any indication, the Watch Dogs flick could open some doors for a potential return to the franchise after some much-needed downtime. Such an angle has also worked out great for the Fallout TV series.