Thanks to Ben for the heads up.
“The Legend of Zelda,” one of the most popular videogame series of all time, is in the works as a television show at Netflix.
The video streaming service is in the early stages of developing a live action series based on “Zelda,” about an ordinary boy named Link who must rescue a princess named Zelda and save a fantasy world called Hyrule, said a person familiar with the matter. As it seeks writers to work on the show, Netflix is describing it as “Game of Thrones” for a family audience, this person said.
The “Zelda” games have traditionally included swords and sorcery, like “Game of Thrones” or “Lord of the Rings,” but typically with a more light-hearted, kid-friendly tone.
As it is still seeking a writer to work on the series, Netflix has a long road to travel before a “Legend of Zelda” series actually becomes a reality. It’s also possible that Netflix or Nintendo will kill the project before it gets off the ground.
The video streaming service is in the early stages of developing a live action series based on “Zelda,” about an ordinary boy named Link who must rescue a princess named Zelda and save a fantasy world called Hyrule, said a person familiar with the matter. As it seeks writers to work on the show, Netflix is describing it as “Game of Thrones” for a family audience, this person said.
The “Zelda” games have traditionally included swords and sorcery, like “Game of Thrones” or “Lord of the Rings,” but typically with a more light-hearted, kid-friendly tone.
As it is still seeking a writer to work on the series, Netflix has a long road to travel before a “Legend of Zelda” series actually becomes a reality. It’s also possible that Netflix or Nintendo will kill the project before it gets off the ground.
This would be awesome to see and Netflix is also working on A Series of Unfortunate Events both of which I would love to see come to series.
ReplyDeleteOh please yes, please i've been waiting for a Zelda movie or tv series since i was a kid xD. Hoping it won't be too much for a kids audience and more like Game of Thrones.
ReplyDeletePeople really need to stop using Game of Thrones as a comparison for their shows! XD
ReplyDeleteThrones is what it is because of the epic nature and complex mature themes, not because it has swords and sorcery. This will be very little like GoT! Find a new comparison already!
Ok rant aside...
This could be a lot of fun!
I think it would have a built in fanbase and depending on casting a broad enough appeal to draw in more viewers than just fans of the series of games!
No, Zelda is one of those universe you can hardly project to screen without having it seem utterly ridiculous. And to make it mass appealing you'd have to make changes so big the fanbase would be pissed.
ReplyDeleteElder Scrolls? Fine
A show about a kid in a green hood, guided by a fairly attempting to save a princess and collecting the four elements? Erm...
Would be interesting to see how they pull it off on-screen!
ReplyDeleteBut you can use it for anything, watch:
ReplyDelete-Galavant, it's like Game of Thrones, it's a middle ages fantasy... just minus the excitement
-Scandal, it's like Game of Thrones, all the political intrigue... just minus a lot of fantasy.
-Person of Interest, it's like Game of Thrones, all the... uh, well... it's on tv for an hour at nights?
Yeah, I agree, the whole comparing to Game of Thrones is starting to get tiring.
Like Game of Thrones or Lord of the Rings...lolwut?! I hope Nintendo do kill it if it ever resembles either of those things tbh...
ReplyDeleteIf it's done right however, this could be good. But I can't stress the *has to be done right* hard enough here, it's a universally loved game and it's fans will kill it stone dead in the water if it's done wrong.
Exactly!
ReplyDeletePeople use GoT for a comparison without actually comparing their show to the elements that are unique to Got! Like you mentioned... Fantasy show, swords, political intrigue, naked bodies etc... All elements in shows that are completely unlike Game of Thrones as well! XD
This is one that could be either really good or really bad, I can't see a middle ground. Also if they want to avoid a massively male dominate audience then they'll have to make Princess Zelda's character less the maiden in distress and more Link's equal in fighting terms.
ReplyDeleteEmpire is also like Game of Thrones set to a music theme.
ReplyDeleteAlways liked the basic story of Zelda but I'm not a fanboy for it at all, and I would definitely hope for significant changes but the basic plot, sure, sounds like it could be good.
ReplyDeleteIf this moves forward with A Series of Unfortunate Events I hope both bring in a ton of new subscribers for Netflix, would love to see them continue making sci-fi/fantasy. Although with Hemlock Grove ending in a few months they are long overdue to announce new horror projects!
Especially when said show is heavily steeped in magic, whereas GoT practically treats it as a minor annoyance.
ReplyDeleteWould be epic if it happened and the quality was actually good.
ReplyDeleteI was never able to imagine Zelda coming to life...Maybe it would be interesting to see.
ReplyDeleteLink isn't always a kid, isn't always guided by a fairy and has only once collected the four elements.
ReplyDeleteJust saying.
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However every game from a Link to the Past through Skyward Sword is light in tone and only gets dark in a very obscure way (toilet hand).
ReplyDeleteHell, even Hyrule Warriors is pretty light for what it is
You can't translate this universe to the screen with ease.
As for being a kid, Links age in the series ranges from young to young adult. We have yet to see an older wisened up Link.
however I would love to see Majoras Mask turned into a show just to see people crap their pants whenever the moon is shown in the background.
However, LoZs basic plot and world is very VERY light (even when it is dark and creepy)
I'm... I CAN'T HANDLE THIS!!!! AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!
ReplyDeleteA darker version like Twilight Princess would be cool. I can't lie, i would love to see how it end up as a series... Maybe is really bad or it's really great.
ReplyDeleteThe Elder Scroll? I never understood why no network did this... Now we have Game of Thrones, but The Elder Scroll has a great story and lore... It could easily be a Lord of The Rings show with all the magic and stuff.
Or a Fallout series? I love Fallout 3! I NEED FALLOUT 4 RIGHT NOW!
But Twilight Princess wasn't that dark to begin with either, also the games atmosphere was poorly recieved. But I'll stick with hoping for Majoras Mask only for seeing all the scared faces. Cheery characters and god damn depressing undertones
ReplyDeleteRIGHT?! They could easily take just one sidequest and build and entire show concept out of that. But I do think Bethesda might be holding onto that property tight.
I realize more and more how similar we are...
New Vegas was releasing in 2010....5 years ago. And Bethesda only stopped working on polishing Skyrim about a year ago. It'll take forever for Fou4 to come our way :(
I managed to get over it through Borderlands 1-2 and Rage, rather shooters than RPGs but set in a similar enviroment. Also Mad Max is coming out this year and it looks like it'll be similar in tone to the Fallout franchise (since Fallout is based on Mad Max anyway...)
I mean...we get 2 freaking full priced Assassin's Creed games this year, how is Fou4 taking so long? (btw. I don't care what critics say: Unity was pretty good and Rogue was even better)
Live action? Even then its risky.
ReplyDeleteIt would be real cool if it had the NES overworld theme performed by an orchestra as a theme song. Corny but cool.
ReplyDeleteThe implication of this post being that you need a darker tone or an older, wisened lead character to do a fantasy show, and I think both claims are objectively false.
ReplyDeleteEven saying that, I think you either don't remember of never took a real look at how dark Majora's Mask actually is thematically. That game has a sister preparing to drug her little sister so she doesn't have to know she's about to die.
Wind Waker is pretty ace philosophically as well. There's more to Zelda than people, even Zelda fans, sometimes realize. I don't really SEE the show because of the Link problem, but it's there.
I'm not saying that Zelda is light thematically but style-wise. Of course Majoras Mask was dark, it was about the freaking end of the world -,-
ReplyDeleteHowever, just take a look at previous Zelda installments and tell me that the art style isn't light and hard to translate to screen
I thought Marco Polo was supposed to be Netflix's response to Game of Thrones?
ReplyDeleteAnyway, I can't possibly imagine a good Legend of Zelda screen adaptation. Especially not as a live action series. But it you at least toss in a few "Excuuuuse me, Princess!"'s, then I'll at least get my humor's worth out of it.
Also, Netflix seems like a very odd place for Nintendo to deliver a series. I'd figure they'd make it exclusive to Nintendo platforms like Sony and Microsoft are doing with their series'. Unless I'm wrong about how Powers, et al. are airing? I don't know, and I don't care much to find out otherwise.
Huh...
ReplyDeleteHope this comes to be.
ReplyDeleteThey said they wanted to make a "family friendly Game of Thrones". Twilight Princess's stetics are the more likely to be adapted. I'm not talking about story, just the darker tone in the presentation.
ReplyDeleteI got the platinum trophy of Fallout 3 on PS3... What a beautiful time! And TES IV: Oblivion? I have put like 250 hs on that and i have still things to do jajaja
There's so much story in that world... You can make a show to last years and years and years without too much effort. An Elder Scroll Show would destroy Game of Thrones if done right! Just all the Guilds... You could have one main character of each guild! That would be so awesome! I need to re-play this game ASAP(so sad it doesn't have Trophy support).
I'm optimistic about Fallout 4. There're report of the game being developed for at least 2 years now(they were doing recording for actors like Three Dog in early 2014, some must be quite advanced) wich is gonna be set up in Boston.
Tried playing Borderlands and Rage but they didn't clicked with me... Just Cause 2 was cool, so a Mad Max with all that destruction could be a great game.
I need a good story first... That's why i don't like multiplayer games. I need a story and cool characters to invest in, if not it feels so pointless and not fun!
Still, this year Persona 5 comes out! Persona 4 Golden is my ALL TIME FAVOURITE game in the whole world! That game... i bought a Vita just for that xD
Don't get my start with Assassin's Creed... I didn't even finish Revelations. I got soooo bored with that.
I'm actually looking forward to The Order 1886. The story and setting of that game seems espectacular! :D
Well...I can see the family friendly part but GoT is about political intrigue and Hyrule is not exactly a place for political conspiracies. But I'll remain somewhat positive, I never loved the franchise but grew up along with it so Ill give it a shot.
ReplyDeleteOh Oblivion, was my first next gen game when I got my old 360 (and I was only 13 years old...) spent hours on that game after surgery tied me down for a few months. And Fallout...I didn't know what to expect from that game and it just blew me away, first visiting Megaton and the survival factor the game had...oh my good times indeed.
I'm sure that Fallout 4 is coming eventually but it's been SOOOooooo long :O
As for AC, well Revelations did suck royally. However they added a whole new engine for AC3 and really reinvented themselves for "The American Saga" (AC 3, Liberation, Black Flag, Rogue)
I'm on XBone so The Order isn't in the cards for me