A producer on the long-awaited live-action Splinter Cell movie has confirmed that the project has been canceled, so it's going to be quite a while before you get to see Sam Fisher strut his stuff on screen (in a live-action capacity, anyway).
Per a report by movie publication The Direct, producer Basil Iwanyk says the movie is no longer happening. He says the creative forces behind the film "just couldn't get it right, script-wise, budget-wise", but that it "would have been awesome".
Iwanyk goes on to call the Splinter Cell movie "one of the ones that got away, which is really sad". Given that we hadn't heard anything from the film for a number of years, it's perhaps not surprising that it's been canned, but it's a shame nonetheless.
We are, however, still getting the Splinter Cell animated series, which was first mooted all the way back in 2020.
Officially titled Splinter Cell: Deathwatch, the show will star Liev Schreiber as Sam Fisher, with original voice actor Michael Ironside claiming there's "no way" he should still be playing Fisher given his advanced age. I'm sure a legion of Splinter Cell fans would disagree, but there we are.
While the animated series is sure to make Splinter Cell fans happy, there's still no new Splinter Cell game on the horizon. The last release in the franchise was 2013's Blacklist, and since then, appropriately enough, Fisher has gone dark.
Back in 2021, Ubisoft announced a remake of the original Splinter Cell, but since then, news on the project has been scarce. Given Ubisoft's recent track record with remakes, however, perhaps we shouldn't be too surprised about that.
On the whole, it must be said that Splinter Cell IP owner Ubisoft isn't having the best year of it.
Between investor threats, employees taking strike action, and major breadwinners being delayed, not to mention a dramatic drop in earnings, now might well be the time for Fisher to return from retirement and attempt to save his ailing parent company.
