“I think the way they wrote that script…even though I’m not particularly a gamer myself, I knew the games,” said Blyth. “They took it, and they made it about the world we live in today. I will say that I do think that the film really tears apart this world we live in today, which is this online setting, the dangers of everything being interconnected and online in the way that the games do. Yeah, that was a vague answer, but that’s all I can say. Sorry, man.”

Ubisoft, New Regency, Sony Pictures, and Columbia Pictures have been quiet about the film. The last we heard about the project was all the way back in 2024, with its filming having started in July and having come to an end by September. On the production side of things, the screenplay was written by Christie LeBlanc (Oxygen), and stars Blyth (The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes), Sophie Wilde (Talk to Me), Markella Kavenagh (The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power), and Victoria Bata (Pitch Perfect 3, Fate: The Winx Saga). Directorial duties have been handled by Mathieu Turi (Meander, The Deep Dark).

The last entry in the Watch Dogs game franchise was 2020’s Watch Dogs: Legion. Released on PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S, the title marked a first for the series by foregoing a traditional protagonist for its plot, and instead gave players the ability to recruit just about any NPC they can find in the world into their team.

Set in 2029 London, Watch Dogs: Legion revolves around the London branch of hacker group DedSec that has continued its battle against the nefarious authorities that still make use of mass surveillance technology ctOS to further their own goals. The base game revolved around DedSec’s shadow wars against a number of antagonists, including rival hacker group Zero Day, a private military company, a criminal syndicate, a corrupt biotechnology corporation, and an intelligence agency named Signals Intelligence Response.

The original Watch Dogs was released all the way back in 2014 on PC, PS3, PS4, Xbox 360, and Xbox One, and its story revolved around Aiden Pearce taking on the corrupt elite that is running the city of Chicago. It was followed up by Watch Dogs 2 in 2016, which moved the setting to the San Francisco Bay Area, and featured a new protagonist—Marcus Holloway.

A rumor from last month indicated that Ubisoft might be bringing the series back with a Director’s Cut release of Watch Dogs: Legion.

Now, filming has wrapped as well, as confirmed by Ubisoft on Twitter. Filming on the movie lasted a little over two months. As previously confirmed, it stars Sophie Wilde (Talk to Me) and Tom Blyth (The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes), with Christie LeBlanc (Oxygen) having written its original screenplay, and Mathieu Turi serving as its director. Turi is also set to direct a film based on Asobo Studio’s A Plague Tale: Innocence. 

It remains to be seen when the Watch Dogs movie will release. Meanwhile, the future of the franchise in the gaming space looks much murkier, with reports claiming earlier in the year that the series was “dead and buried” after the underperformance of Watch Dogs: Legion. Read more on that through here.

Specifically, Ubisoft has announced with a post on Twitter that filming for the Watch Dogs movie has started. The movie, as previously confirmed, will be directed by French director Mathieu Turi, who is also set to direct a movie based on A Plague Tale: Innocence, the 2019 action-adventure title developed by Asobo Studio.

The Watch Dogs movie is based on an original screenplay written by Christie LeBlanc, who is known for her work on Oxygen, and will star Sophie Wilde (Talk to Me) and Tom Blyth (The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes).

As for the future of the Watch Dogs franchise in terms of a new game instalment, reports earlier this year claimed that the series was “dead and buried”, with no plans at Ubisoft to make a new instalment following the critical and commercial failure of 2020’s Watch Dogs: Legion.

Lights_Camera_Action.exe#WatchDogsMovie // @NewRegency pic.twitter.com/6z7uUibmOJ

— Ubisoft (@Ubisoft) July 3, 2024

Sophie Wilde, best known for her role in 2022 horror film Talk to Me, is in talks to star, while French director Mathieu Turi (who’s also directing a movie based on A Plague Tale) is set to direct. Christie LeBlanc, known for her work on 2021’s Netflix sci-fi thriller Oxygen, is writing an original screenplay for the movie.

The movie will be produced by Ubisoft Film and Television’s Margaret Boykin and New Regency Picture’s Yariv Milchan and Natalie Lehmann. Currently, there’s no word on when it’s expected to start moving through the phases of production, and a release date is unknown.

Ubisoft Motion Pictures CEO Jean-Julien Baronnet decided on the company “because they are a talent- and filmmaker-driven company, with the same independent and creative mindset that we have at Ubisoft Motion Pictures.” Which is all well and good, but seriously guys, Elektra. There was nothing talent-driven or creative about that.

Development will now begin on a screenplay for the film, with Michael Fassbender of Hunger, Shame and X-Men: First Class fame playing the lead. He’s also attached as a producer to the project. So far the film could still go either way, but at least there are some mostly competent people behind it.

Source: GIBiz