Is Hitman worth a Netflix adaption?

Hitman General
82

It could be done as a tv series if they do contracts beat for beat. Each episode plays out the cutscenes leading up to each mission and then the mission is the rest of the episode.

Like first episode would start when 47 returning to his hotel room and then just like in the game it transition to 47 shorting a clone and then ortmeyer. From here the mission in the hospital would then play (maybe from the swats perspektive or just neutral).

Next episode would be 47 hallucinating and going to the meat kings party so on.

83

I think the best bet for an adaptation should be original story with inspiration from the games like the Fallout show, beat for beat of something we already know would be kind of boring no?

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84

No, it would not be boring, because no game adaptation of any sort has ever done that, and that’s all we ask of them if they’re going to bother to adapt a game. The entire point of adapting a story into a new medium is to try and see if you can recreate that story in that medium, as closely as possible. This. Is. Not. Difficult. Despite what those who make them try to tell us in order to excuse why they didn’t try. We do not need - nor want - a movie or tv adaptation of a video game just taking a few basics and otherwise doing everything else completely different.

What you are describing is what happens every time they make a game adaptation, including the last two attempts for Hitman. And with the exception for Sonic, Mario, and Detective Pikachu at least trying to be faithful, every other attempt ever has added tally been shit in this regard.

85

Im not interested in watching a story I have played for 20+ years but that might just be me. The vibe should be right but the story should be fresh.

86

Fallout is different because every game in the series follows a new setting with new characters with occasional callbacks. It’s also a very unique overall setting with iconic factions and centerpieces.

But Hitman’s not like that. It is about 47 and Diana. If we only follow another assassin other than 47, or anyone else but Diana, it won’t have the same gusto. That’s also my issue with the “targets Vs invisible 47” structure.

The targets-oscillated plot would be pretty fun for a while, maybe for the pilot and a couple episodes, but soon it’ll become more Final Destination if we don’t actually follow 47 and just have to Cluedo how he assassinated his victims.

Even the games have an overarching story connecting them and take place in 47 and Diana’s POV. The main story still has to follow 47 and Diana. They’re the meat and potatoes of the franchise.

I think that’s one of the major reasons the films suck; they don’t show the base game premise of 47 assassinating his targets under Diana’s guidance. It’s so simple, how could they and the Hulu series ignore that.

The other reason: they basically never show Diana at all. She’s instead replaced by another poorly written action-oriented female lead.

To be fair, Diana as a character throughout the game series is also poorly written. She had no real personality until Blood Money, had a “dead single mother” story arc in Absolution that got completely retconned, they ripped Batman’s backstory for the reboot and the comic made her a sociopathic teenaged crime lord who usurped her mentor and sent assassins after the company who killed her parents.

I think the TV series could fix that. Maybe they go with the original Absolution backstory of her simply being recruited out of university. Maybe one of Diana’s relatives, maybe even one of her parents who faked their death, recruits Diana into the ICA. Maybe Diana’s foray into crime fails and she is either arrested or imprisoned by her mentor until the ICA rescues her.

I’d like the TV series to focus on Diana more generally. Focus on what drives her, what haunts her, her developing relationship with 47 and her mentors. Show us the friends, rivals, lovers she makes in the ICA. Make her the heart of the story.

I have a cast list for a WoT trilogy TV series, which honestly loses some heart without the other games portrayed, and a couple other half-baked ideas. I’ll list them down tomorrow maybe, it’s 6 in the morning and I haven’t slept a wink.

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87

Also, they made the Hitman movies shoot-em-ups, with 47 killing people left and right. It should not be treated as an action movie; it should be treated like a slasher story, with a little bit of Home Alone. The stories being told should show 47 in a situation where there’s all kinds of guards and potential witnesses all over the damn place, and he still manages to eliminate his targets without anyone seeing him, and without anyone else dying. It’s not John Wick, it’s not Kill Bill, 47 should not be leaving bodies all over the place.

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88

This was the idea pitched to Hulu. They added that you would see 47 in the background until the target is killed.

89

Maybe the first half would be target-focused, and then in the second half, we see how 47 was able to pull it off. That said, each execution should be SASO, or SA.

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90

Good stuff. Hulu knows whats up. It would at least be a very strong introduction to 47s character and then maybe focus on Diana some as well. I believe navigating her life , the power struggles in the ICA, the effect being 47s handler has on her and vice versa could be awesome as well.

91

Strong disagreement on that point. Disguises are an integral part of who 47 is. Making him wear a suit the entire time would be out of character.

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92

A couple of times it would be cool to see SASO.

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93

One thing whoever makes a HItman TV series should be careful of is (imo) repetition, I hope that if they ever attempt to bring 47 to the big screen that it wouldn’t be like these CIA Crime Shows that have a very specific pattern that makes everything too predictable.

I don’t think it’s a simple task to catch viewers off guard every episode with how the eliminations are executed, so every single detail about each mission shouldn’t be told to the viewers; as in who the targets are, what else 47 needs to get done, it all must be completely different from episode to episode so the viewers won’t be able to spot a pattern 3 episodes in.

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94

I still to this day believe that the protagonist shouldn’t necessarily be 47. But Put the main focus on law enforcement, like an Interpol agent. Creating a narrative around 47’s actions and the hunt for this mysterious assassin. I could also see a neat angle in following the events from the target’s perspective until termination.

That not said we can’t follow 47 from his perspective later on. To begin with I would keep 47 more obscure, letting the viewers know him through actions.

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95

They could do something where the audience gets to watch the target go about their day for the first half of the show. When the episode starts, we are just shown somebody doing their thing. They eat breakfast, they go to work, they come home, whatever they do. At some point they die (presumably in an accident).

The second half of the show then is told from 47’s perspective. You now see the exact same events play out but from the perspective of the assassin.

If they film it right, the audience would be able to watch in the first half for clues as to how 47 did it but in the second half, we see if we were right. You’d be able to see 47 in the background, maybe, during the first half but he’d never be the focal point, he’d never be the main point of attention - always the target.

Same thing when it’s from 47’s perspective - 47 being the focus and the target in the background until they sync up at the end and the last shot of every episode is just 47 calmly walking away from the scene, with no one any the wiser.

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96

Perhaps they could make it like Predator with the target being sort of from the perspective of Schwarzenegger in that movie, and switching at times to the Predator’s perspective, which in this case would be to 47’s perspective… except of course, in this case, the predator wins.

97

The problem here is that regardless of how many good (or bad) ideas we come up with, what we’ll actually end up with is some bald guy (who is obviously not actually bald) killing targets with a machine gun and making off with some girl because a clueless executive at Netflix believes that you have to have “action” and “romance” to make a good show and they will completely ruin the concept.

I’d rather they make nothing rather than something completely stupid and contrary to the character.

98

Honestly, it should focus on Diana, Diana has a great personality and she is way more interesting.

47 blends in with the environment, if there ever was a show, it’d be great if Diana was narrating it through as the handler.

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99

I´d actually kinda like if it was focused on the ICA as a whole rather than just 47 and/or Diana. Essentially a bureaucratic-espionage series dealing with how the Agency functions, gathers info on targets, provides analytical, handler and other support, recruits assets/personnel, etc. We would see the background stuff that contains ample avenues for exploration (and opportunities for drama), it would cover the targets´ perspective as well, and we wouldn´t be limited to 47 as the only assassin.

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100

Well, Corrin’s won in a landslide. They’re definitely talented, arguably the most out of the three, they’ve got an Golden Globe for a reason. I just haven’t seen them in anything unlike Purnell or Edgar-Jones, so I can’t really gauge their acting or envision them as Diana. Purnell’s Diana a bit more goofy and quirky while Edgar-Jones’ is more reserved, broody and quiet. Not sure on Corrin’s.

Well, at least Corrin’s got the posh voice down from The Crown. The core basis of Diana giving exposition and pleasantly ordering 47 around has to stick.

Anyway, as promised 4 days ago, here’s my terrible ideas and adaptational changes for a TV series:

  • Diana is arrested after Forrestal’s assassination or Savi realises she’s trying to overthrow her and keeps her locked in her basement as her slave or sells her to human traffickers. Either way, Soders, 47 or someone at the ICA save Diana.
  • The ICA recruits some of its agents and handlers by orphaning them and recruiting them later. Possibly including Diana, mirroring 47 in how they’re both made into weapons.
  • One of Diana’s parents murdered the other (either due to the other threatening to divorce the other and take Diana over what happened to James or revenge for cheating) and faked their death in the car bombing and has been the ICA Board Chairman/Chairwoman all along.
  • One of the other ICA handlers Diana works with is a half-sibling from her father having an affair.
  • Mark Faba is a major antagonist.
  • Ji-hu is a North Korean and Khandanyangan agent and feeds intel to the ICA.
  • The Chameleon is gender-flipped and played by Jodie Comer.
  • Bateson and Perry cameo as ICA board members

Adapting the World of Assassination trilogy into a TV series would be different. Though there is an established storyline, the trilogy is pretty reliant on the old games for emotional effect like with 47’s backstory and Diana forgiving him for offing her family. There’s also nice little callbacks with the Delgados and Daniel Morris.

The trilogy’s main story is already hard enough to pace into a series, let alone if we add flashback scenes or try to squeeze in the events of the other games.

  • Robyn Gore replaces Erich Soders as the traitor and Hokkaido target.
  • Penelope Graves and maybe the other Colorado targets survive.
  • The Kashmirian is a target.
  • Flashback scenes to Diana’s early years at the ICA.
  • The Constant is changed to an Englishwoman and a childhood friend of Diana. They have a similar dynamic to 47 and Grey. Either that or the Constant is killed off early and Alexa Carlisle is the final antagonist, maybe along with the other Partners.
  • The ICA agents sent to hunt down 47 are an all-female strike team called the Saints; not dressed like nuns

Oh, for casting:

  • Maya Hawke and Uma Thurman play a character, maybe an ICA handler or a gender-swapped Agent Smith, in the past and present respectively. Hawke’s lover in the past timeline is played by Joe Keery or Natalia Dyer.
  • Millie Bobby Brown or Daisy Edgar-Jones play young adult Diana, Rachel Weisz plays her in the present
  • Juliette Lewis as the past ICA Board Chairwoman
  • Pedro Pascal as Silvio Caruso
  • Monica Bellucci as Francesca De Santis
  • Viola Davis as Robyn Gore
  • Kristen Stewart as Sierra Knox
  • Bryan Cranston as Carl Ingram
  • Helen Mirren as Alexa Carlise
  • Janelle MonĂĄe as the Washington sisters
  • Michael McKean as Don Archibald Yates
101

Just my opinion, but after the first two films, 47 should remain a video game character. Aside from the likes of Mario and Sonic, video games like Tomb Raider, Assassins Creed and Hitman never really worked in the film setting.

Leave them as video games where it’s their territory :slightly_smiling_face: