Henry Cavill Is Expanding the WARHAMMER 40,000 Universe With an Animated Series at Prime Video
If you've been waiting for some real movement on Warhammer 40,000, there's some exciting news to talk about. While fans continue waiting for updates on the long-in-development live-action being developed by Henry Cavill, it turns out another project is already charging ahead.
An animated Warhammer 40,000 series is officially in development at Prime Video, and Cavill is helping lead the charge as an executive producer.
For anyone invested in seeing Warhammer become a major franchise on screen, this is a pretty awesome development.
The animated series will spin out of the Warhammer 40,000 episode from Amazon's 2024 video game anthology series Secret Level. That standalone episode, titled “And They Will Know No Fear,” introduced audiences to the grimdark universe and apparently served a much bigger purpose than fans realized at the time.
According to Variety, the series is being created by Dave Wilson, who directed the Secret Level episode, alongside John Orloff, best known for Band of Brothers. Cavill will executive produce the series with Tim Miller, the Deadpool director and co-founder of Blur Studios.
While details are still under wraps, the animated series is expected to follow The Deathwatch, an elite group of Space Marines assembled from different chapters whose mission is to hunt down alien threats across the galaxy. It's one of the coolest corners of the Warhammer 40,000 universe, so it feels like a great choice for an animated series.
Wilson explained that this was always part of the larger vision, saying: "Secret Level wasn’t conceived simply as an anthology. It was designed as a launchpad for larger stories. This series gives us the opportunity to build on that foundation and tell a much larger story."
As exciting as this announcement is, the live-action series is still moving at a slow pace. Cavill's involvement was first announced back in December 2022, and it took another two years before he officially confirmed he was deeply involved in shaping the adaptation.
At the time, Cavill shared: "My incredible team and I, alongside the brilliant minds at Games Workshop, have been working away in concept rooms, breaking down approaches to the enormity and magnificence of the Warhammer world."
We also recently got another encouraging update from Games Workshop CEO Kevin Rountree during the company's latest earnings report. Along with revealing this new animated series, he confirmed that Mike Flanagan has joined the live-action Warhammer 40,000 project as a writer, which is a fantastic addition considering Flanagan's track record as a storyteller.
Rountree also revealed that Secret Level Season 2 will feature another Warhammer-themed episode, this time set in the Age of Sigmar universe.
It's becoming increasingly clear that Amazon and Games Workshop aren't looking at Warhammer as a single show. They're building an entire franchise with multiple stories spread across live-action and animation, and that's exactly what this universe deserves.
Personally, I love that Henry Cavill is the one helping make all of this happen. His passion for Warhammer has never felt like a publicity stunt. He's a genuine fan who understands why this universe has captivated people for decades, and having someone with that level of enthusiasm steering these projects gives me a lot of confidence.
Now I'm just ready to start seeing the results of all the work that's been happening behind the scenes over the last few years. Unfortunately, it still doesn't sound like we'll be watching either the live-action series or this animated show anytime soon.
Even so, it's exciting to know the universe is continuing to grow, and I can't wait to see what Cavill and the creative teams deliver when these Warhammer projects finally arrive.