Well its finally happening, Warhammer 40k is making it to prime time. Over the years Games Workshop has been steadily expanding its IP’s into new Media. We of course have a slew of miniatures, and boxed games. Alongside, a metric ton of novels, and quite a few digital games as well. In fact they have a hand in just about every form of media or entertainment aside from TV and film.
So Why Have We Had To Wait So Long?
A lot of people have wanted 40K to make it the silver screen or primetime but we have never really gotten it. This is for a few reasons I can think of off the top of my head. One big one is from a production standpoint, for the longest time televisions didn’t have the means or budgets to accommodate something as intensive as 40k. Due to the setting, sets would all have to be rather elaborate and made from the ground up. Sure, you could shoot some stuff on location, but you would eventually run into the problem of depicting a hive city or a Space Marine. Which would require elaborate sets or expensive CGI. The next option would have been film, but that ran into the other big issue.
40k is a rather niche hobby. In recent years 40k has reached a much larger audience with video games, the Horus heresy series, and of course 8th edition’s friendlier rules. However, for many years prior it was a obscure hobby, particularly in the U.S.A. So this lack of an audience and general appeal would probably cause most studios to give it a pass.
So Why Now?
Honestly, I think a big part of it was Game of Thrones. GoT was a massive fantasy epic that showed that TV COULD do an epic Sci-Fi or fantasy setting without dipping too far into the cheesy. The other component of this is that 40k IS more popular now, so the audience is there as well. So, lets Talk about the shows protagonist Eisenhorn.
Who is Eisenhorn?
Eisenhorn is an Inquisitor of the Ordo Xenos, and most notably a puritan. In the beginning of the novels he fits the profile of your usual zealous Inquisitor. What makes him such an interesting character is that he doesn’t stay this way. Over the years of having to face down evil after evil, he starts to make exceptions to his code. Think of it like Breaking Bad, except Walter is an Inquisitor in the 41st millennium that doesn’t make drugs and your not too far off. Despite all this he remains loyal to the imperium, really its more about choices and consequences. Either way Eisenhorn is a very interesting and very flawed character. One with an internal struggles between doing his job and making sure he doesn’t turn into the very thing’s he hunts.
Ok So What About The Show Itself?
As of right now we don’t have set release date nor do we know what network it will be on. We do know its being done by the studio Big Light Productions, and the show runner and executive producer is Frank Spotnitz. He has worked on thing’s like The Man In The High Castle and The X-files. Frank’s pedigree gives me hope for the series, as I enjoy both of these shows. One thing that I’m interested to see is how they deal with the setting itself. Like I said before, accurately depicting the architecture alone will prove to be quite the task even by todays standards. So, while we may still be a few years off, I am looking forward to a 40k TV show. Also, you can get Eisenhorn’s miniature for your games of 40k!
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