We may have just learned that The Umbrella Academy’s next season will be its last, but we also now know that showrunner Steve Blackman will be developing Netflix’s series based on the PlayStation game Horizon Zero Dawn. Blackman’s involvement in the upcoming show — and his new multiyear deal with Netflix that also includes developing the sci-fi show Orbital — was reported by Deadline on Thursday.
“Horizon Zero Dawn and Orbital are elevated, event-level projects grounded in characters that fans will love and relate to, which are hallmarks of Irish Cowboy productions,” Blackman said in a statement to Deadline. “We’re thrilled to be working with Netflix and all of our partners on developing these ground-breaking stories.”
In an interview with Netflix’s Tudum blog, Blackman shared a few more thoughts about the Horizon Zero Dawn and Orbital shows, though there still aren’t many specifics to grab onto. In one response, he praised Horizon Zero Dawn and confirmed that Aloy will be the main character:
Why did you want to adapt a game like Horizon Zero Dawn and what are you most excited to tell from the game’s story? And will Aloy be the main character in this series?
Horizon Zero Dawn is an exceptionally well-crafted game with wonderful characters not often seen in the rank-and-file of the gaming world. Guerrilla Games has created an incredibly lush and vivid world of man and machine who find themselves on a collision course to oblivion. Their salvation comes in the form of a young female warrior named Aloy, who has no idea she’s the key to saving the world. Suffice it to say, yes, Aloy will be a main character in our story. My writing partner on this, Michelle Lovretta, and I are thrilled to be able to expand this remarkable IP into a series for all types of viewers.
We still don’t know who will play Aloy, though, and it’s unclear when the show might eventually be released. That said, I’m still tentatively excited about the show. While I personally feel the Horizon games can be clunky and overstuffed with things to do, I really enjoyed the story in both of them and think they’d translate well to a TV adaptation.
It seems like we’re a long way away from being able to hit play on the Horizon Zero Dawn show, but before then, there should be plenty of other PlayStation adaptations to watch. I still need to catch Uncharted on Netflix, HBO’s The Last of Us is set to premiere next year, and a Gran Turismo movie is scheduled for August 2023. And those are just the adaptations with release dates that we know about; there are also Twisted Metal and God of War shows in the works and Ghost of Tsushima, Days Gone, and Gravity Rush films in development.