Square Enix is partnering with Sony Pictures Television and Hivemind Entertainment to adapt Final Fantasy into a live-action series. Out of the many entries in the long-running franchise, the MMORPG Final Fantasy XIV has been chosen for the jump to live-action television.
Translating Final Fantasy XIV to live-action won't be Hivemind's only gaming-related project. Hivemind is also working on an adaptation of The Witcher for Netflix (as well as Amazon's The Expanse, described by Forbes as Game of Thrones in space).
According to the Hollywood Reporter, Jake Thornton and Ben Lustig will work on the Square Enix show as executive producers and writers. The two are a writing and producing team according to a Facebook page they share, and Deadline reports that the pair are also adapting the children's book The Night Knights for Sony.
The Hollywood Reporter also shared that Hivemind's producers on the Final Fantasy series will include Sean Daniel from The Mummy franchise, Jason F. Brown from The Expanse, and Dinesh Shamdasani from Sony's upcoming Bloodshot.
The central series of Final Fantasy games often tell standalone stories with different settings, and XIV takes place in the land of Eorzea. Kotaku reports that the live-action adaptation will remain in Eorzea with a new story that will focus on magic versus technology during a time of conflict and attempts at peace. Other than that vague description, plot details remain scarce. There's also no news of casting, distribution, or other aspects of the production at this point.
GameSpot reports that part of adapting the game to live-action will feature series icons Cid and Chocobos. Time will tell if the TV show will stay true to other elements of the games, or how it'll compare to other Final Fantasy adaptations. Interestingly, XIV also took the spotlight in Final Fantasy XIV: Dad of Light, a 2017 miniseries that combined live-action with gameplay footage to tell the story of family reconnecting through the eponymous MMORPG.
With Netflix’s The Witcher scheduled to premiere in 2019, audiences will see how Hivemind adapts a game to live-action, and may get an idea of what that could mean for the later Final Fantasy XIV adaptation.
Are you interested in a live-action adaptation of Final Fantasy? Do you like that XIV was picked, or is there another installment in the series you would’ve preferred for live-action? Please leave your thoughts in the comments below.
