Seen in Hollywood Reporter

Quote Originally Posted by Hollywood Reporter
Henry Cavill [...] -- who Wednesday officially hung up his Man of Steel cape after Warner Bros. announced it is going in a new Superman direction thanks to DC Studio heads James Gunn and Peter Safran — is attached to star in and executive produce a series adaptation of Warhammer 40,000, the popular science fiction fantasy miniature war game that is set up at Amazon.

Amazon is in final talks for the rights to the game, produced by Games Workshop, after months of negotiations and fending off rival companies that also sought the rights.

The game’s setting is 40,000 years into the future where things are dark indeed. Human civilization has stopped progressing and is in an unending war with aliens and magical beings, with gods and demons figuring into a theological class system.

The humans make up the Imperium of Man, who are militaristic. A race of skeleton-like androids are known as the Necron; there is an elvish race known as Aeldari as well as Orks; Tyranids are nasty aliens; and the T’au is a blue-skinned alien race that may offer some hope.

Cavill is known to be a Warhammer fan and paints figures. Because the project is in such early stages — to reiterate, Amazon has yet to close the deal — this is not the next gig for Cavill, who recently announced he was exiting his lead role in Netflix’s The Witcher.
BLOOD FOR THE BLOOD GOD! SKULLS FOR THE SKULL THRONE!

*Cough Cough*

Sorry, got carried away there.

Anyway, I'm very curious to see how the same Amazon who gave us Rings of Power butchers interprets WH40K. If Tolkien is considered problematic for fantasy racism, well, the various factions in WH40K are nothing but cardboard stereotypes played for laughs. That's the point; WH40K is an excuse plot for moving miniatures around a table, not any kind of in-depth social commentary. I forget just how many different models and miniatures which were played for laughs in the 1980s would send the modern twitterati to their fainting couch for smelling salts.

Also, the Empire of Man isn't just militaristic. It's a full-on theocratic despotism which protects humanity through the sacrifice of I forget how many psykers per day to power the Golden Throne.

How do you make a good vs. evil story out of that? There are no good guys in 40,000 CE: In the grim and dark future there is only war. That's the point.

I also find it humorous that they seem to think the T'au are the good guys because of their philosophy of the "greater good". You would think a writer who grew up in the Harry Potter era would have recognized the subtle sarcasm in the motto, which parallels exactly Grindelwald's slogan (written ten years later, but same strand of thought) "For the Greater Good". When you see an organization claiming to be for the greater good, you can bet a year's salary there's going to be a lot of lesser evil genocide along the way.

They're certainly taking on a challenge to update WH40K for modern audiences. I would be greatly surprised if the eventual series bears any relationship to the original game -- but I have hopes that it will at least be entertaining.

Respectfully,

Brian P.