Games Workshop, the British tabletop gaming company, announced on Monday an exclusive agreement with Amazon to develop films and TV series set in the Warhammer 40,000 universe. Plus, Henry Cavill’s involvement has been confirmed.
A rumor circulated that the agreement might have been delayed indefinitely due to some miscommunication regarding the contracts and licensing. However, with the agreement now fully in place and shared publicly, Games Workshop and Amazon Studios are ready to run full steam ahead with bringing the Warhammer 40,000 universe to life.
Games Workshop itself shared the good news on the company’s official website and on its official social media channels.
In December 2022 we announced Games Workshop and Amazon Studios had signed an agreement in principle to bring Warhammer 40,000 to screens big and small.
Today we have an update: we’ve now signed the full agreement and the next stage can begin!https://t.co/RbehHy4AU6 pic.twitter.com/m5kfUKbpnJ
— Warhammer Official (@warhammer) December 18, 2023
Analysts from Peel Hunt (Games Workshop’s official corporate broker) led by Charles Hall consider this collaboration with Amazon a potential “game changer” for Games Workshop, expanding the Warhammer 40k universe to a broader global audience.
Games Workshop (often shortened by fans to GW) was founded in 1975 and found initial success as the official European distributor of Dungeons & Dragons products. GW has witnessed a remarkable 7,800% surge in its share price since its initial public offering in September 1994. This was mainly driven by the success of Warhammer 40,000, now the world’s most popular miniature wargame. WH40K launched in 1987 as a follow-up to the successful Warhammer Fantasy, but is instead set in a distant future where a stagnant human civilization faces threats from hostile aliens.
Under the leadership of CEO Kevin Rountree, Games Workshop’s revenues have more than tripled to £445.4 million ($564 million) in 2023, reflecting the company’s adept capitalization on the growth of geek culture. The agreement grants Amazon exclusive rights to produce content based on the Warhammer 40K wargame, a popular miniature wargame where players enact battles using intricately detailed models on tabletops resembling battlefields, each model costing as much as £100 or more.
While Games Workshop maintains its full-year forecasts, Peel Hunt’s analysts interpret this as an indication that any upfront payment from Amazon for the Warhammer 40k rights is “modest.” Instead, they emphasize the value lies in expanding Games Workshop’s audience, citing the success of Amazon’s Lord of the Rings series, which garnered over 100 million viewers worldwide.
The agreement entails a 12-month planning and development process between Games Workshop and Amazon to establish the creative guidelines for potential films and TV series. This is similar to other recent pop culture projects that had been jointly developed with Amazon, such as The Rings of Power, HALO, The Boys, Dungeons & Dragons, and the upcoming Fallout series.
Games Workshop’s shares (GAW), listed on the London Stock Exchange, experienced a 1.1% increase on Monday, building on a 17% rise in the past 12 months and an astounding 250% surge over the last five years.
Originally announced in December 2022 as an agreement in principle, the recent development confirms that Amazon now holds the rights to develop Warhammer 40,000 film and TV projects. Games Workshop assures fans that a team of dedicated screenwriters, passionate about Warhammer, is being assembled to bring the beloved dark dystopian science-fantasy setting and characters to life on screen.
However, fans are cautioned that TV and film production is a time-intensive process, often taking two to three years from this point before any content reaches the screen. This aligns with Games Workshop’s previous announcement in 2019 about developing a TV series with Spotnitz Productions based on the character Gregor Eisenhorn, with no significant updates since.
Addressing speculation about Henry Cavill’s involvement, Games Workshop confirms that the former DCEU Superman and The Witcher star (and also a hardcore Warhammer 40K fan), will executive produce Amazon’s projects.
It should be noted that this does not guarantee Cavill will take on an on-screen role, but the company hints at that possibility. And considering Cavill’s profound passion for the game and lore and calling it his dream project, it would be extremely likely he would want to participate in an acting role. He has expressed as much interest in doing so in the past, even mentioning the possibility of portraying Neoth, the Emperor of Mankind before his ascension.
In any case, given the agreement between Amazon and Games Workshop has a projected one year development process, Warhammer 40K fans will have to wait a while. There will likely be news that trickles in here and there in 2024, but scripts, casting, and teasers may not surface until early 2025.
What do you think of the future of Warhammer 40K as a cinematic universe? Will Henry Cavill stay in the background or would that be a monumental waste of his acting talents and passion for the WH40K mythology? Which key figure in the Warhammer 40K lore should Cavill play, if ever?
