Ubisoft has been making noise about a Watch Dogs movie since—I am not exaggerating—before the first game even came out in 2014. Now, over ten years later and with three games in the series, there might actually be a Watch Dogs movie.
It looks like Talk To Me star Sophie Wilde is now attached to the project as a lead, while French director Mathieu Turi will direct a screenplay by Christie LeBlanc. Director Turi previously did horror movie Hostile. Screenwriter LeBlanc’s major credit was the Netflix sci-fi horror-drama-thing Oxygen. It’s coming via New Regency, the same folks who helped thet Assassin’s Creed movie make it across the finish line.
That info comes via a report on Deadline, which details the choice of director and star alongside some studio and producer details.
Does this mean we’ll see an actual movie based on Watch Dogs? There’s really no way to know. More than a few gaming movie projects get to this stage and never see the light of day—and even then can take years more. I wouldn’t hold your breath before 2026 if you’re super excited for this one.
I suppose the real problem here is that Watch Dogs could be compelling but the story’s what’ll carry it and there’s no central story left for Watch Dogs: We have three different games with what are ultimately three very different—if thematically similar—stories. Two are set in America, one is set in the UK, and attached actress Sophie Wild is Australian.
Still, everyone wants the curse of the game adaptation to movie to be broken, and nobody likes it when a bunch of creative people work very hard and make something that’s bad. Here’s hoping for the best for this production.