In a new report from Deadline, Fox 21 and Hulu team up for a television series based on IO Interactive’s Hitman. Derek Kolstad, creator of the John Wick action movie series, will write the pilot script. Kolstad wrote the first John Wick movie and scripted the third one, which is due for a 2019 release.
Kolstad will also be an executive producer on the show. According to Deadline, “the hope is for Hitman to become a flagship series” for Hulu. “The intention here is to hew closely to the mythology of the perennially popular video game,” the report added.
Hitman is as much about Agent 47’s mystery-shrouded origins as it is the sumptuous environments and dramatic stories surrounding the agent’s targets. It’s hard to think of a better pick for the Hitman series than Kolstad, whose flair for memorable, assassination-driven stories should marry quite well with Hitman’s subject matter.
Hitman is no stranger to the screen: the popular video game series has been the subject of two films from Fox, Hitman (2007) and Hitman: Agent 47 (2017). The series’ success rests on the success of the Kolstad-penned pilot. What's more, if Hulu is hoping for a flagship series, we may see promotion on the likes of The Handmaid’s Tale and other buzzy Hulu shows.
Hitman will need to stand on its own two feet for those who have never played the Hitman games, but as far as classy, murder-driven stories about professional killers doing their jobs in glamorous locales, one could pick worse franchises than Hitman and far, far worse scribes than Kolstad. The latest installment of the franchise featured unique episodic installments that seem like a nod towards its series potential.
Meanwhile, IO Interactive has confirmed a new Hitman game is in the works for 2018. CEO Hakan Abrak stated: “One last thing about our next Hitman game; I want to let you know that we’re making great progress and we have exciting new features and some franchise first, which we can’t wait to tell you all about,” but Abrak added, “we don’t plan to start talking about that until some point in 2018.”
Hulu has yet to set a date for the adaptation.
Would you be willing to watch a Hitman series on Hulu? Do you think Hitman is ripe for a small-screen adaptation? What would you most want to see in a Hitman TV show? Feel free to let us know in the comments section below.
