Henry Cavill had a week of sadness after losing his dream role as Superman and leaving his role as Geralt of Rivia in the Netflix series The Witcher with some animosity, so it felt like bad luck wasn’t on his side. Given that Cavill seems to be a pretty good man and since it seems impossible to keep a good man down, the news that Amazon has acquired the licence to Warhammer 40,000 is especially welcome. The company appears to be planning to develop what has been called a “world of Warhammer programming” with Cavill serving as both an executive producer and a star.
The British actor recently announced his involvement with the “Warhammer” realm on Instagram. He wrote, “For 30 years I have dreamt of seeing a Warhammer universe in live action. Now, after 22 years of experience in this industry, I finally feel that I have the skill set and experience to guide a Warhammer Cinematic Universe into life.”
The company also issued a statement announcing the agreement, which was made public on the Warhammer community website, saying, “This is the first deal of its kind for Amazon Studios for IP of this scale, and it allows the company to utilize the title across its entertainment businesses. Henry Cavill (Man of Steel, Mission: Impossible – Fallout) is set to star in and executive produce the Warhammer 40,000 franchise across all Amazon Studios productions.”
Cavill is ideal for this part, possibly even more so than he was for Geralt. It seems like the perfect match for me as a well-known and proud gamer and nerd with a special affinity for role-playing games and a love of constructing PCs. For goodness sake, the dude spent the lockdown painting Warhammer figurines. Cavill added, “I have loved Warhammer since I was boy, making this moment truly special for me. The opportunity to shepherd this cinematic universe from its inception is quite the honour and the responsibility. I couldn’t be more grateful for all the hard work put in by Vertigo, Amazon and Games Workshop to make this happen. One step closer to making a nigh-on lifelong dream come true”.
Dice are used in Warhammer 40,000, as in other RPGs like Dungeons and Dragons. However, Warhammer 40,000 differs from many other RPGs in that it features exquisitely made miniatures. In the 40,000-year-old future depicted in the game, humanity has, to put it bluntly, had a really awful time. A perpetual war involving magic, gods, demons, and aliens is going on. If Amazon lavishes the resources it deserves on the project, it will be a visual feast a la Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power.