When Henry Cavill hasn’t been building gaming computers, he has invested many years acting in multiple geek-focused franchises. Those include, of course, his time as Superman the DCEU’s various Justice League phases and as Geralt of River in Netflix’s The Witcher, which did start out strong before rapidly going downhill to the point where Cavill pulled out of the franchise, which will try to carry on with Liam Hemsworth in his place.
During The Witcher‘s heyday, however, Cavill’s cast mates raved about his encyclopedic knowledge, and word on the streaming street is that Cavill was disappointed in an alleged lack of respect for the source material from certain creatives. Yet now, Cavill has the chance to fulfill another dream by leading the way on Amazon’s adaptation of the Warhammer 40,000 tabletop RPG universe. This is an enormous undertaking, one in which Cavill will have much creative control, but the project has also shown little public-facing movement, so let’s talk about where things stand now.
Plot
First, we have to mention that Cavill comes by his devotion to conquest of the Warhammer galaxy honestly. In early 2022, he Instagrammed video footage from his pilgrimage into Warhammer World, where he called himself “giddy with excitement” about “minute and elusive parts of the lore,” and he raved about how “[t]he artistry involved and the synergy between miniature designs that are so enormously diverse, is extraordinary.” He tellingly added, “I don’t often feel at home, but I did that day.”
Less than a year later, Henry was announced to lead and executive produce Amazon’s efforts to harness four decades of this lore into fitting adaptations, and Amazon Studios accordingly scooped up global rights to bring Warhammer 40,000 as a TV show, possible movies, and into the gaming realm.
Soon, we’ll be coming up on the two-year anniversary of that announcement, so it’s easy to wonder whether a hangup has occurred, and that actually might be the case. IGN reported this month that Games Workshop (which exclusively publishes the books and sells the game’s miniatures) has revealed in its most recent financial report that it had agreed to work with Amazon on “creative guidelines” that must be met by December 2024 for the arrangement to continue. Further, the existing agreement “will only proceed if the creative guidelines are mutually agreed between Games Workshop and Amazon.”
Cavill previously told Josh Horowitz on the Happy Sad Confused podcast that “it is the greatest privilege of my professional career to have this opportunity … to bring it to the screen and be at the tiller so it can be faithful, is key to me. This is the stuff I’ve been dealing with since I was a kid. This is the stuff I spend my free time daydreaming about, as an adult as well.” Let’s hope the two sides can pull this off, not only for Cavill’s dreams but millions of enduring fans of Warhammer 40,000, which revolves around this setting:
“Humanity stands on the brink of annihilation, as alien and heretic alike threaten the Imperium from every quarter. The waning years of the 41st Millennium are an age of constant war in which history, reason, and hope are ground to dust beneath the inexorable weight of the passing years. Enlightenment is replaced by superstition, understanding by rhetoric, rote, and blind prayer. War is all that remains…
“Humanity faces existential threats from traitors, heretics, and xenos empires on all sides. Imperial defenders are stretched thin as they react to Ork invasions, the reawakening Necrons, the expanding T’au Empire, and worse. Into this maelstrom of conflict enters a threat long thought defeated – that of the Tyranid Hive Fleets. These hordes of ravening, ever-adapting lifeforms attack the Imperium from unexpected quarters – can Humanity’s warriors beat them back, or will the invaders forge a path to Holy Terra itself?”
Cast
The good news is that Cavill is committed to acting in this franchise along with shouldering executive producing and story credits. The not-as-good news: plans on possible other cast members remain a mystery.
Release Date
Honestly, your guess is as good as ours on this project.
Trailer
Since we’ll be waiting awhile for a trailer, here’s certified non-geeky-looking Cavill explaining his true “nerd” status to Kimmel while talking about his Warhammer love.
