The Hitman video games have enjoyed a surge of popularity since the latest entry in the series, Hitman 3, hit shelves last year.
This brought a conclusion to the current Hitman trilogy (which began with the 2016 Hitman reboot) with style, and has become the most successful game in the series to date.
And taking this into account it’s not surprising that a TV adaptation of the Hitman video games is in the works, even if meaningful updates about the show’s progress have been few and far between…
However, actor David Bateson, who voices the game’s protagonist Agent 47, recently spoke about the TV adaptation, even if his words might not be that encouraging for Hitman fans hoping to watch the iconic Agent 47 on their TVs soon.
You see, in an interview with comicbook.com, said that the TV adaptation of the games (via a Hulu TV series) “sort of went dead”.
“I keep an eye on IMDb and things in pre-production and it sort of went dead”, said the man who voices Agent 47, adding that “sometimes productions sort of get green-lighted, and then others just go away or just get mothballed for a while. And then, someone just dusts off this script again and goes ‘We’ve got to make this film!’ And then, it becomes a no-brainer and it gets done”.
So it seems that the Hitman TV show is either in development hell or has been cancelled for good, something that may not please fans of the franchise which were looking forward to it.
Actor David Bateson himself might be playing a role in the show too, saying in an earlier interview that he was gearing up to be the “M” of the show.
“I would definitely be up for it”, said the British actor. “To be someone working in the back office, the kind of M figure saying, ‘Okay Agent 47, careful now, it’s loaded’ or whatever”, added Bateson.
Bateson mentioning M from the James Bond movies could be less than coincidental, as the people behind the Hitman games are now working on a James Bond game. So maybe the UK actor would like to play M or another character from the films in the game?
This remains to be seen, although even if the TV series fails to take off, there are still the Hitman movies to enjoy – one pretty good, another not so great, even if they were both box office successes back in the day.
And of course, IO Interactive (the Danish outfit behind the Hitman series) has kept churning out content for the latest game in the series, with new stuff like maps and game modes still to come out in 2022.