Television audiences can look forwards to seeing Alan Wake in the near future.
AMC has acquired the rights to adapt Remedy’s Alan Wake video game from 2010 into a television series.
Remedy creative director Sam Lake revealed the news in an Anniversary Update video discussing the future of the Alan Wake franchise: “We were quite a while ago talking about the Alan Wake TV programme.” Fortunately, AMC, the home of amazing television shows, has purchased the rights to Alan Wake. And we’ve been working together on developing a TV show.”
Remedy has previously discussed the possibility of making an Alan Wake TV series. In 2018, Variety reported that Peter Calloway has been hired as showrunner for the project. If this new arrangement with AMC is going to continue that work, or if this is a totally new adaptation starting from scratch, we don’t know for sure yet.
A television adaptation of Alan Wake would be a natural fit. The action-horror game revolves around a best-selling novelist who visits a lakeside town in an attempt to overcome his crippling writer’s block. His wife mysteriously vanishes and he uncovers pages of a weird manuscript that he has no remember authoring when he sets out to locate her.
In terms of television, it’s a scenario that lends itself perfectly to the medium. At the time of its debut, Alan Wake was influenced by the popularity of DVD box sets. A cliffhanger at the end of each chapter and “previously on Alan Wake…” at the beginning make each chapter feel like a TV programme. Alan Wake, in my opinion, is the best video game to be turned into a television show.
Don’t forget that AMC has a good track record when it comes to adapting well-known material. Based on a comic book, The Walking Dead is the network’s most popular show. This year, AMC will telecast the second half of the series’ 11th and final season, which has been a smash hit with horror fans.
To date, neither AMC nor Remedy have provided any details about the Alan Wake TV series, including who will star in it or when it will air. Since the project is in its early stages of development, it’s safe to anticipate that we won’t see anything for at least a few years.
The Alan Wake series has woken up after a decade of dormancy. Earlier this year, Alan Wake was remastered for current-generation systems and a sequel to the game was confirmed. Lake has previously stated that the highly anticipated sequel would not be shown off this summer.