BioShock Movie Director Says the Netflix Adaptation Is Still Happening and “In a Pretty Good Place”

It’s been a rocky road for the BioShock movie, but it seems things are starting to come together. The movie was announced nearly three years ago at Netflix, and a lot has happened since then. The movie is being directed by Francis Lawrence, who previously directed multiple movies in The Hunger Games series, as well as the adaptation of Stephen King’s The Long Walk, which is set to be released later this year. In an interview with IGN, Lawrence offered a brief update on BioShock. While the movie has run into some struggles since it was first announced, it seems things are finally falling into place.

“It’s a tricky adaptation, so there’s lots of things to figure out and to get right,” Lawrence told IGN. “There’s regime changes at Netflix, and so things stall out and get re-energized and stall out and get re-energized, and I think we’re in a pretty good place, honestly.”

At last year’s San Diego Comic-Con, BioShock producer Roy Lee also talked about those “regime changes,” revealing that shifts at Netflix resulted in a smaller budget than originally expected. As a result, Lee said that the movie would be “much smaller” and have “a more personal point of view” than originally anticipated. It remains to be seen how much smaller the project will be compared to the version that was first planned. When BioShock was first announced, the movie had Logan writer Michael Green attached. However, the current script is being written by Justin Rhodes, who has some background adapting video games; Rhodes wrote the script for Secret Level‘s Unreal Tournament episode, and co-wrote the Warhammer 40,000 episode.

In the interview with IGN, Lawrence confirmed that he had received a draft for BioShock ahead of a meeting with Rhodes. This could suggest that things are finally starting to move along on the movie, though we’re probably still a few years away from an actual release. That’s sure to disappoint fans eager to see BioShock finally come to fruition, but hopefully the end result will prove worth the wait.

RELATED: Minecraft Just Beat Every Other Video Game Movie

At the very least, it’s nice to hear that BioShock is still happening! Between changes at Netflix, the Writers Guild strike, and all of the normal hiccups that happen during a movie’s production, fans couldn’t be blamed for wondering if BioShock had been quietly cancelled. Of course, given the level of interest Hollywood has in video game adaptations right now, it’s not surprising that BioShock is still coming to the streaming platform. Adaptations like Fallout, A Minecraft Movie, Sonic the Hedgehog, and The Last of Us have seen a lot of success over the last few years. Netflix has been slow to cash in on the current video game gold rush, but hopefully BioShock will give the company a chance to rectify that.

How do you feel about the BioShock adaptation from Netflix? Do you think the streaming company will do the property justice? Share your thoughts with me directly on Bluesky at @Marcdachamp, or on Instagram at @Dachampgaming!