Summary
Guerrilla Games’Horizon Zero Dawnseries has continued to evolve since its release in 2017. The game has received a sequel, a remaster, a VR spin-off, a LEGO game, and at one point it was even in development to become a TV show.
Horizon Zero Dawnis an open-world action-adventure role-playing game. The story follows the quest of the main character Aloy, who lives in a post-apocalyptic Earth overrun by animal-like machines, as she attempts to unravel the secrets of her past and find out what caused the world to end.Horizon Zero Dawnwas a brand-new IP from Guerrilla Games and quickly became popular thanks to its original world, stunning graphics, and impactful story. A sequel,Horizon Forbidden West, was released in 2022 and garnered similar positivity.
Horizon Zero Dawn TV Show Was In The Works For Netflix
Video game adaptations are becoming the flavor of the month in Hollywood, thanks to successes likeFalloutandThe Last of Us. It was hardly a surprise then that a Hollywood studio set its sights onHorizon Zero Dawn’svibrant universe. In 2022, it was announced that a TV series based onHorizon Zero Dawnwas in early developmentat Netflix. Shortly after this, it was revealed thatThe Umbrella Academyshowrunner Steve Blackman had boarded the series as an executive producer and was developing the show with Michelle Lovretta (Killjoys).
In an interview with Netflix’sTudumback in August 2022, Blackman revealed he was excitedly working on developingHorizon Zero Dawnas a series. The showrunner praised Guerrilla’s game and story, revealing that “Aloy will be a main character in our story,” and that they planned to make the series for “all types of viewers.” The series was in development under Blackman’s production house, Irish Cowboy Productions. At one point, the series was rumored to take place over two timelines, with one set in 2074 before the fall of humanity and the other inAloy’sHorizon Zero Dawntimeline.
Why Development On the Horizon Zero Dawn Series Was Shelved
While all systems were go on theHorizon Zero Dawnseries for a time, the project was ultimately shelved. In June 2024,Rolling Stonereported that twelve staffers had accused Blackman of bullying, and toxic and manipulative behavior. An HR complaint also alleged that Blackman made sexist, homophobic, and transphobic remarks. Blackman denied these allegations, saying they were “entirely untrue.”
Rolling Stone reporter Cheyenne Roundtree then reported about a week later that they had learnedHorizon Zero Dawnand Blackman’s other project at Netflix,Orbital,were no longer moving forward. A statement fromBlackman’s spokesperson said it was “preposterous”to suggest that the allegations against Blackman were responsible for the cancelation of the project, and instead pointed to the impact of the writer’s and actor’s guild strikes as the reason.
Will A Horizon Zero Dawn Series Ever Release?
This was the last anything has been heard about Netflix’sHorizon Zero Dawnseries. The lack of progress on the series since Blackman’s departure is a worrying sign that the adaptation is dead. Prime Video’sGod of Warseries adaptation recently lost itsshowrunners. However, a new executive producer was announced only a couple of weeks after their departure, signaling the streamer’s dedication to the project. Netflix’s silence on theHorizonseries and the lack of any new development teams being brought on board suggests the series may be over, at least for Netflix.
While no reason for the shelving has been given by Netflix it may have been a combination of factors that led to its cancelation. One of these factors may be the budget needed for aHorizonseries to be adapted properly.Horizon Zero Dawnis set in a post-apocalyptic worldfull of robot dinosaurs and advanced machinery. Concepts like that would no doubt require hefty production and visual effects budgets for them to be completed to a standard that fans would be happy with.
Horizon Zero Dawn Might Be Best Suited For Animation
One potential option that could ease the pressures of the budget and revitalize the movement on theHorizon Zero Dawnadaptation would be for it to go down the animation route. Manyvideo game adaptations have followed this trendrecently, withCyberpunk 2077, Tomb Raider, andLeague of Legends, all finding success in the animation space. An animated series would allow theHorizon Zero Dawnadaptation to be recreated as faithfully as possible to the source material and could also provide new insight into corners of the game’s world or lore that wouldn’t have been possible on a live-action budget.
IP adaptations in Hollywood can take years to get off the ground.Five Nights at Freddy’sis a prime example, with the movie going through almost ten years of development before it was released as a feature film in 2023, and went on to become Blumhouse’s highest-grossing release worldwide. However, sometimes the effort is worth it as fans have flocked to support faithful video game adaptations. AHorizon Zero DawnTV series may be dormant for now, but that doesn’t mean it won’t receive a successful screen adaptation in the future.
Horizon
The Horizon franchise follows Aloy as she is forced to contend with a series of powerful, towering robotic creatures in a post-apocalyptic landscape. The third-person action-RPG has already seen a sequel with Horizon: Forbidden West and gives players the freedom to explore the open world as they see fit.
