Henry Cavillmight just have his hand in every video gam adaptation on the market right now. We’ve seen him perform excellently as Geralt of Rivia in the hit Netflix showThe Witcher, but he’s alsotalked about joiningtheMass EffectTV show, doing a project based in theWarhammeruniverse, and now, in a recent interview withGamereactor, making aRed Dead Redemption 2movie.
When asked at a red carpet event in Madrid forThe Witcherabout a particular game that he thought would make a great Netflix project, he had this to say:
Well, that’s a tricky one, ‘cause you’re tying both an IP and a company together, which is a tricky thing to do, so I certainly don’t want to put myself in any corners with that, but there are plenty of games out there… I’ve actually started playing Red Dead Redemption 2—I know I’m a little bit late to that party—but I started playing it and I’m really enjoying it. And so, something like that I think would be fun to turn into a movie.
It’s an understandable sentiment. Rockstar’s recent games have an almost blockbuster cinematic quality to them, especially looking at the last fewGrand Theft Autogames and, of course, their beloved western franchise. Seeing the story of Arthur Morgan, John Marston, and the van der Linde gang on the silver screen with Cavill’s take on one of the cowboys sounds like a match made in heaven — at least, in theory. In reality, Rockstar games also tend to be long andRed Dead Redemption 2is no exception, clocking in at around 40 to 50 hours to hear all of Morgan’s tale. Any studio would be hard pressed to condense that down into a film while still capturing the essence of what makes the game great.
RELATED:Henry Cavill on Making Geralt More Intellectual in ‘The Witcher’ Season 2 and How It Impacts CiriOn the other hand, aRed Dead Redemption 2Netflix series a laThe Witcherwith Cavill at the head sounds a lot more enticing. It would be far easier to do the game’s story justice, with multiple episodes dedicated to each town the gang runs off to. Moreover, it does Arthur, a character whose perspective on the gang and his life of crime slowly changes over the events of the game, far more justice to have more time dedicated to fleshing him out. It even has sequel potential with the events of the first game as extra material to pull from. Also, be sure to bring inBenjamin Byron Davisto reprise his role as Dutch van der Linde and you’re golden.
Western series in general are seeing a comeback too. BetweenWestworld,Yellowstoneand its prequel series1883, andWalker, there’s no shortage of captivating tales of cowboys and rangers on TV right now, so aRed Dead Redemptionshow could fit right in. As long as Cavill keeps pushing for more adaptations like this, anything’s possible. He’s certainly earned plenty of goodwill for his portrayal of Geralt to consider the idea.
Cavill will have his hands full withThe Witcherfor the time being, with the series’ second season just dropping on Netflix.Season three is already writtenfor the fantasy show, so he’ll be back once again to hunt down what goes bump in the night, but don’t be shocked if he pops up in more video game adaptations in the future.
