A Warhammer 40,000 live-action television series is in the works

The Witcher isn't the only grim fantasy melodrama that's making the move from videogames to television. Games Workshop announced today that it's teaming up with Frank Spotnitz's Big Light Productions to make a live-action series based on the Warhammer 40,000 universe, called Eisenhorn. You might not know Spotnitz by name, but he created Amazon's TV adaptation of The Man in the High Castle.

The show promises a blend of fantasy, sci-fi, and crime drama as it follows Inquisitor Gregor Eisenhorn and his team of investigators, who work to uncover the schemes of "aliens, heretics, and daemons" who seek to destroy the teetering Imperium of Mankind.

"Gregor Eisenhorn is a relentless force in the dark future of the Warhammer universe: A destroyer of daemons and a purger of heretics, implacable, powerful and dedicated," Dan Abnett, author of the novels on which the series will be based, said.

"But the appeal to me, from the moment I started writing him, was his complexity. He is not the simple, ruthless hero he appears to be. His battle with the Warp leads him into dark places and forces him to question his duty, his understanding of the Imperium, and his own identity. With Eisenhorn, it’s not just the adventures, and they are certainly vivid: it’s the journey he takes to the very limits of what he is and what it means to be loyal."

Eisenhorn, like Geralt, debuted in novels but also appeared in a videogame, although somewhat less successfully than the famed Witcher: We included Eisenhorn: XENOS in our 2017 list of the most hated Warhammer games on Steam, describing it as "like playing a migraine." But Spotnitz and Big Light bring credibility to the project, with recent TV production credits including the critically acclaimed The Man in the High Castle, Medici, and Ransom.

Andy has been gaming on PCs from the very beginning, starting as a youngster with text adventures and primitive action games on a cassette-based TRS80. From there he graduated to the glory days of Sierra Online adventures and Microprose sims, ran a local BBS, learned how to build PCs, and developed a longstanding love of RPGs, immersive sims, and shooters. He began writing videogame news in 2007 for The Escapist and somehow managed to avoid getting fired until 2014, when he joined the storied ranks of PC Gamer. He covers all aspects of the industry, from new game announcements and patch notes to legal disputes, Twitch beefs, esports, and Henry Cavill. Lots of Henry Cavill.