Work on the Warhammer 40,000 Cinematic Universe continues, Games Workshop has said in its latest financial report, but don’t expect any significant news any time soon — it’ll be “several years” before anything comes of it.
That’s the brief message the UK company issued to investors as part of its annual report this week, which also included a promising-sounding update on what to expect.
Former Superman actor and Warhammer 40,000 superfan Henry Cavill is set to star in and executive produce the Warhammer 40,000 franchise across all Amazon Studios productions after Games Workshop and Amazon finalized their deal late last year.
Cavill’s Warhammer 40,000 Cinematic Universe is shrouded in mystery, and Games Workshop itself has cautioned fans not to expect to see anything of it for some time. Still, fans are excited about the prospect of finally seeing Warhammer 40,000 brought to life in live-action form across films and TV shows — and with Cavill steering the ship, they’re confident it will be done right.
However, condensing the vast scope of the IP into films and TV shows while sticking to a reasonable budget may prove a challenge. Warhammer 40,000 is a highly detailed setting with multiple factions, thousands of years of war played out on a galactic scale, and, at the heart of it all, enormous Space Marines who often fight against even bigger monsters. We’re talking space battles that can last hundreds of years, gargantuan land battles that can consume entire planets, and the Warp, a place so unknowable that it can be pretty much anything you can imagine.
That’s why fans have wondered about the story Amazon plans to tell with its 40K project. Perhaps something a bit more grounded that doesn’t necessarily revolve around Space Marines is a more realistic option, such as author Dan Abnett’s much-loved Eisenhorn series, which follows the inquisitors Gregor Eisenhorn and Gideon Ravenor as they hunt heretics and demons.
But if Amazon wants to go full-blown galactic Space Marine, it could tell the story of the sprawling and foundational The Horus Heresy saga, or perhaps pick one of the more famous battles in the current setting, such as The Fall of Cadia.
Either way, realizing 40K in live-action is a huge undertaking, which is why Games Workshop’s statement in its financial report has fans purring:
“On 10 December 2024 we announced the conclusions of our negotiations with Amazon for the adaptation of Games Workshop’s Warhammer 40,000 universe into films and television series, together with associated merchandising rights. The project continues in line with our contractual agreement with Amazon. This same contract prohibits us from sharing any specific details or commercial terms.
“We have great partners who continue to display their commitment to present Warhammer authentically and at the scope and scale befitting our fantastical setting. This is a long-term partnership with Amazon and there won’t be any significant news in the short term — these things take several years to bring to market.”
It’s that line about having “great” partners (Amazon and Henry Cavill) who are apparently committed to presenting Warhammer “at the scope and scale befitting our fantastical setting” that is of interest here. For fans, that hopefully means Amazon will go big on 40K in terms of production value at least, with its hugely expensive The Lord of the Rings show The Rings of Power fresh in the memory.
As Games Workshop insisted, this is not something we will see anything of any time soon. So we’re left with scraps to mull over, such as recent comments from Dan Abnett about NDAs and upcoming books.
In the meantime, Games Workshop pointed to the well-received Warhammer 40,000 episode on Amazon Prime’s animation show Secret Level, which it described as “a taster of Warhammer IP in digital form on the small screen.”
In June, Cavill himself touched on the “complexity” and “trickiness” of adapting the Warhammer 40,000 IP. But, he insisted, he’s loving the challenge, which for fans will be great to hear. Bringing Warhammer to life “is a dream come true,” Cavill said, “but it’s different from what I’ve done before, in the sense I haven’t had my hand on the tiller of things before. It’s wonderful doing that. It is a tricky IP, and a very complex IP, and that’s what I love about it. The challenges that come with putting this on the page in a way that is doing justice to that complexity, that trickiness, and that nuance, is a challenge I’m enjoying enormously.”
When the Games Workshop / Amazon deal was announced, Cavill issued a statement on Instagram saying he’d been “working away in concept rooms, breaking down approaches to the enormity and magnificence of the Warhammer world.”
Wesley is Director, News at IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.
