In a new interview, the lead writer behind the Titanfall sequel has confirmed that he is working on spinning off Respawn Entertainment’s debut title into a TV series.
The piece, published on Forbes, confirms that Jesse Stern is working alongside a new series.
Stern was originally a writer on NCIS before becoming the lead writer for the first two Modern Warfare games, two of the series’ most critically acclaimed and popular releases. He also revealed that Vince Zampella, the chief executive of Respawn Entertainment, is interested in developing animated and scripted spin-offs for the Titanfall IP.
“We are trying to find a way to tell a story in the worlds we want to be in and produce in the TV model,” the writer said. Stern will be in Australia from March 9-11 for the Australian Writers’ Guild’s national screenwriters conference as a speaker.
The writer also said Titanfall 2 would do a much better job of telling a story, this time centered on “a vision of grand global colonial warfare” that put a space twist on America’s Civil War and Revolution.
[Forbes]
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12 responses to “Titanfall Is Being Spun-Off Into A TV Series”
Interesting Idea, but gonna be ALOT Of CGI, been watching some shows on SyFy and it seems to me sometimes too much CGI is a bad thing.
I’d watch it. I really liked the idea of Titanfall, and the titular titans seemed like a really cool hook for an interesting world, and maybe there was a world full of lore there, but really… it was a multiplayer-only match-based shooter.
There was only so much story it was ever going to be able to deliver.
It always struck me as a brilliant concept being slightly done wrong, I bought it, played it for a few days then never went back to it. I found it to be a great concept that needed to be tweaked and redone slightly. The actual mechanics were fine but it felt like it needed to be expanded? Maybe put into battlefield 2 sized maps with more vehicles, larger areas, less CPU controlled players and more PVP… 32 v 32 or something? Buggies, air vehicles, titans, players etc.
I think it’s going to work really well with narrative supporting the story/Titans instead of the focus being how long before you can call in your Titan and how many checkpoints you’re holding. Treat it like one of those shows that focus around a fighter squadron/army platoon but with Titans instead. Could be killer.
I feel like this is doomed before it even begins. To start with, it doesn’t have the core following it needs on multiple platforms (beyond the niche few still playing on Xbox) to build a groundswell, while the sci-fi setting is, ultimately, going to have an uphill battle on its own anyway. Cue flashbacks of Halo Nightfall and Fall Unto Dawn (a series that does have a following) and Defiance.
Your kidding me? Unlike those game centered IP’s, Titanfall has the scope to become a grand ol space opera like Battlestar or Firefly.
I just hope they find the funding to truly do it justice.
See, this is a fascinating comment, to me. From my limited exposure to it, it seemed to me that Titanfall had no meaningful characters, an utterly generic future world setting, and no discernible campaign narrative beyond one side vs the other. And the only title I’m aware of using that IP is a game, thus… game-centered?
Whereas the Halo and Defiance IPs actually have non-game entries in their series, varied settings, an in many cases, more than just two opposing factions, with third parties playing both sides with numerous agendas of their own.
So I’m really curious as to what evidence you’re basing that assertion on.
It’s very skeletal as an IP but the basic idea of mining colonies rebelling against government control could be the basis for good sci-fi and allegory IF (and it’s a big if) they manage to create compelling characters. The first game had no characters whatsoever, I take it that the fact they’re discussing ideas like this with the media means that they’ve actually worked out an interesting story for the second game.
My fingers are crossed – the gameplay of the first is solid!
Surprisingly, there was quite a fair amount of backstory and character and universe development in Titanfall. The major problem was that it was constrained in the multiplayer narrative that unless you paid very close attention to, was essentially ignored.
I think you’re trolling but your last sentence leaves me concerned that you’re half – if not fully – serious. While your analogy doesn’t work – Titanfall is a game-centred IP, and should be compared against my earlier examples – if you want to use those two shows, then, I agree, both Firefly and BSG are, undoubtedly, good shows with a cult following, and are two great examples where they were both funded appropriately (IMO, based on production quality). But, despite all this, they were, in the end, unceremoniously cancelled.
The optimist in me hopes you’re just taking an incredibly liberal view of the term “success”.
Dead serious funnily enough. See, I should couch my opinion. Whilst you are completely correct in that Titanfall is a game-ip, the universe isn’t built on that, or perhaps more aptly, isn’t wed to it yet.
Halo, for example – is built on Master Chief, which makes it nigh on impossible to make meaningful content outside the game sphere.
Also, times have changed. I deft to say your basing the ‘success’ of sci fi of what amounts to two decades ago, and before ‘geekdom’ went mainstream.
I’m not saying it’d be easy to create a compelling series based on Titanfall, but by golly it could be amazing.
Could be amazing, could be another mild disappointment like Defiance.
Then again, it’s got giant robots. As long as it doesn’t take itself too serious (See: Defiance) it should prove to be rather watchable. Throwing in a hint of Starship Troopers and Pacific Rim (I.E. Stupidly awesome and awesomely stupid) wouldn’t hurt.