John Wick screenwriter to pen new Splinter Cell anime for Netflix

By Jon Silman Published July 30, 2020

Derek Kolstad, the screenwriter behind the John Wick action series, is going to write and executive produce an anime adaption of Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell, the popular Ubisoft video game series, for Netflix, according to Variety.

Kolstad worked on all three John Wick films and was recently picked to write the screenplay for the movie adaption of Just Cause, another popular video game franchise. He also worked on Die Hart, a Quibi show starring Kevin Hart, and the upcoming The Falcon and the Winter Soldier series on Disney+.

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Splinter Cell follows the story of former Navy Seal Sam Fisher after he takes a job with the National Security Agency. It’s based on Tom Clancy’s novels with seven iterations of games starting from 2002. The latest game, Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell: Blacklist, and the latest novel, Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell Blacklist: Aftermath, were both released in 2013.

If the show does move forward, there’s a possibility that a game could also be in the works. A movie version has also seen its own series of fits and starts, with actor Tom Hardy attached to the starring role in 2012. But the film project is currently inactive. Netflix reportedly bought two seasons of the show, at eight episodes a season.

While there hasn’t been any news of a new game, Ubisoft showed a trailer for Tom Clancy’s Elite Squad, a mobile RPG action game with Fortnite-like graphics, at its latest event. It’s set for an August 27 release date on the Apple App Store and Google Play Store.

Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cellis considered one of Ubisoft’s marquee titles, and the games have sold millions of copies over the years.

Digital Trends reached out to Netflix and Ubisoft for comment and will update this story after we hear back.

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