The Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell video game series is a highly-popular series of stealth action-adventure video games that started with 2002’s Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell. The last game in the series, Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell: Blacklist, was released in 2013 and the series has been stalled since then. Ubisoft was so eager to expand the franchise that even a movie was announced in 2012, starring Tom Hardy.
Just like the seventh Splinter Cell game, even the Splinter Cell movie was delayed for many years. Fans got some updates throughout the 2010s about the movie, but it was clear that no progress was being made. Finally, it has been confirmed that the Splinter Cell movie is dead because they couldn’t get it right. This news is certainly disappointing but it might be a blessing in disguise.
Live-Action Splinter Cell Movie Is Officially Canceled
In 2013, a Splinter Cell movie was announced, with Basil Iwanyk as producer, Tom Hardy as the lead star and Doug Liman as director. It’s been over a decade since the announcement, so fans of the franchise were certain that the project had been shelved. To clear things out, Basil Iwanyk addressed the project while promoting the tenth anniversary of John Wick. He said (via TheDirect),
That movie would have been awesome… Just couldn’t get it right, script-wise, budget-wise. But it was going to be great. We had a million different versions of it, but it was going to be hardcore and awesome. That’s one of the ones that got away, which is really sad.
Over the years, rumors have claimed that the film’s script was weak and as Iwanyk explained, they couldn’t get it right “script-wise.” The movie getting canceled is indeed terrible news, but it may have saved the video game franchise from getting butchered. A horrible adaptation of the beloved franchise would’ve certainly infuriated the fans.
There’s no need to be disheartened about this news as another iteration of the Splinter Cell series is coming out soon. Splinter Cell: Deathwatch, an upcoming animated series starring Liev Schreiber as Sam Fisher will feature the classic Splinter Cell experience in the hybrid-war era, just in a fresh way.
Will Fans Get Another Splinter Cell Video Game?
It’s been over a decade since gamers got a Splinter Cell game, but it’s not like Ubisoft has forgotten about it. In 2017, Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot assured in that Ubisoft has not forgotten the Splinter Cell series, hinting that a seventh installment could be in development. He added that Ubisoft had “quite a lot on our plate at the moment,” so a Splinter Cell game wasn’t their priority.
At the moment, things at the Splinter Cell branch at Ubisoft are messy. In 2021, it was revealed that Ubisoft Toronto was working on a remake of the first game, however, the game’s director, David Grivel, left Ubisoft in October 2022. Rumors claim that the development of the game has been canceled, however, no such information has been released by Ubisoft yet.
