Blizzard’s Jeff Kaplan Interested in Making Overwatch TV Series

Blizzard Entertainment VP and Overwatch lead Jeff Kaplan has expressed interest in an Overwatch movie or TV series. This comes from his interview with Game Reactor, stating that this is something they are “very, very interested in”.

So far, Blizzard has the WarCraft movie from 2016 but the company’s interest in films seems to be there since the very beginning. Most Blizzard products feature epic cinematics, which are already very film-like in their quality. Even their trailers are incredible, most recent of which is the Battle for Azeroth expansion for World of Warcraft. That alone has over 9 million views on YouTube, and millions more from mirrored channels and websites.

Overwatch Universe on Film

While Warcraft and StarCraft are more fitting for a full-length feature film, Overwatch seems more appropriate as a TV series. That is because of the large amount of characters involved, plus the decades spanning lore within. Many of the characters are also already fleshed out well.

Moreover, Blizzard has been releasing mini-cinematics prior to some character unveiling. These often provide background information and the animation is top notch in quality. The downside is that these are only a few minutes long. However, Blizzard has also been supplementing these with comic books to fill fans in on the story.

Not Anytime Soon

These stories are all in fragments for now however, with the only coherent collection available being fan-made YouTube videos. Blizzard’s dedication to quality is most likely the reason why they do not just jump in to a movie or TV adaptation. Even WarCraft took almost two decades before the company decided that the time is right.

According to Kaplan, this over-protectiveness is true in Overwatch as well. Not only himself, but creative lead Jeff Chamberlain who is responsible for the Overwatch animated shorts shares the same view. Kaplan says “We think of it as our baby. And we would never want to do anything that didn’t live up to the expectations of our fans.” 

“So, while we are super excited to explore other opportunities we are also very, very picky and very controlling when it comes to the franchise.” adds Kaplan.

For now, all fans can do is watch these gorgeous animated cinematic shorts again, and again, and again.