From tabletop RPG to AAA video game and, quite possibly, to a live-action feature film, the horizon is bright for those in charge of the Cyberpunk IP. And who do we thank?
Yup, you heard right; it appears that the possibility of a live-action feature film adaptation of Cyberpunk may be in the cards, especially with the involvement of Internet, movie and now video game sensation Keanu Reeves.
Reeves was revealed in grandiose fashion at the Microsoft press conference at E3 2019 as the game’s major NPC, Johnny Silverhand. Now that the Matrix and John Wick star is on board for the game, the likeliness of a feature film set in the Cyberpunk universe may just be the cherry on the proverbial icing.
Could Mike Pondsmith and his team at Talorsian Games, who published the original Cyberpunk 2020 role-playing game, have envisioned this at all when they first began in the 1988? Certainly not, but he can imagine that it will be a “sweet spot” between action and story, something only a movie can convey.
“I can’t really say anything on [actively pursuing the possibility of a Cyberpunk 2077 movie],” said Pondsmith in a recent interview with VGC. “But with Keanu Reeves being tied up in things, it’s become much more of a possibility.”
Ever since CD Projekt Red took over the storytelling reins of the Cyberpunk IP, Pondsmith also considered more avenues for telling stories in the same universe. He also professed his love for films such as Blade Runner 2049, so it’d be no surprise to see a Cyberpunk movie in the same vein. Despite this, he remains a cautious stance over the success over porting the IP over various avenues.
I’ve recognised over the years that you have to adapt to the medium to make it effective. You don’t use one medium you use another. What I do with tabletop is very different from what I would do in a video game.
Having to go between the two of them now, I can see that there are things that are easy to do in tabletop that I would never try to do in video games, but there are things in video games that have much higher impact than I’ll ever have in tabletop. And that will change if we ever do a film for this thing. What I expect to see will be different.
Regardless, it would certainly be a tantalising prospect to see a live-action Cyberpunk movie in the near future. And with Keanu Reeves as the poster boy for it, we’d certainly pay good money to see that.
Marion has a serious RPG addiction. Sometimes it bleeds into real life; he forgets to sleep because he thinks he has a Witcher’s body clock. Forgive him in advance if he suddenly blurts out terms such as “Mind Flayer” and “Magic Missile”, because never once does he stop thinking about his next Dungeons & Dragons game.
Natalie
Trinity Sun
Si Jia
