At BlizzCon, Blizzard announced a partnership with Netflix for an animated Diablo TV show. The announcement caught some by surprise, but Blizzard president Johanna Faries said in an interview that it makes sense for the studio because many people simply don’t have the time to invest meaningfully in Blizzard’s games, but still might watch a Diablo TV show.
“We have so much fandom around Blizzard that doesn’t always necessarily translate into hardcore gaming time,” she told The Los Angeles Times. “This is another way to deepen the relationship with our Diablo community and expand and broaden the conversation with our fans and potentially attract new fans, who may not have the time … to be able to devote hours to the gameplay, but certainly can devote hours to being engaged in this new form of storytelling.”
Faries went on to say that Blizzard will be “very involved” with the Diablo show. This isn’t always the case for transmedia adaptations, as Naughty Dog recently confirmed it will have no creative involvement in The Last of Us Season 3 on HBO. Additionally, Larian is not involved in the upcoming Baldur’s Gate show.
Lydia Bottegoni, the executive vice president of story and franchise development at Blizzard, said bringing Diablo to Netflix part of an effort aimed at “meeting people where they are.”
“The franchises themselves and the characters in the worlds have a lot of depth and a lot that we can share,” Bottegoni said.
It is still early days for the Diablo TV show, and there is no word yet on the story, cast, or release date. It won’t be the first Blizzard property to be adapted in Hollywood, as Blizzard and Legendary worked together on the 2016 Warcraft movie. It made just $47 million in the US, but brought in $225.5 million from China alone, finishing with more than $400 million globally.
Plans were prepared for sequels, but the domestic box office being so poor contributed to why those never materialized.
As for the Diablo game series, Blizzard just recently announced Diablo 5, but it’s not coming for some time.
