After two dreadful big-screen attempts, a live-action Hitman show penned by the creator of the John Wick movie series and other hard-hitting action hits seemed like a no-brainer, but Agent 47’s return wasn’t meant to happen… yet.
Derek Kolstad himself shared the news while at the premiere of his latest actioner, Normal, at South by Southwest in Austin, Texas. It was The Direct who asked the scribe directly, and he was transparent about what happened over time: “It’s a little bit of a dagger in the chest. Who knows nowadays, but it’s dead in the water. But, man, I love that thing, because I love that game and I love that character.”
It’s safe to say both longtime fans and casual TV enjoyers familiar with Kolstad’s work would have shown interest in a Hitman series with the right directing talent and leads attached, but it appears that, even during the age of Hollywood grabbing every video game IP it can find, the buzz around IO Interactive‘s assassin franchise simply isn’t there.
“I can write a screenplay, but no one’s going to go out and buy the screenplay. You’ve got to make the movie, you’ve got to make the show. But nothing’s happening with that,” the writer added, putting the old project and chatter to rest. Kolstad himself probably doesn’t mind too much, as he’s one of the busiest guys in Hollywood right now.
Fox 21 and Hulu, now owned by Disney, were originally set to produce the show, which was announced by the trades back in 2017. Almost a decade later, it’s now buried, though with a new Hitman game on the distant horizon, a comeback of some sort wouldn’t shock us.
Ironically, John Wick is currently making the opposite trip with a big-budget game developed by Saber Interactive which could take a few cues from IO Interactive’s recent Hitman games.
