Noah Hawley, the creative force behind Fargo and Legion, is finally ready to bring Ubisoft's chaotic shooter franchise Far Cry to television—and he's doing it his way. In a recent interview with Deadline, Hawley shared the first concrete details about the FX adaptation, revealing a multi-season plan that treats the series as an anthology, much like his acclaimed work on Fargo.
Hawley confirmed that Far Cry is set to begin filming later this year, right after production wraps on Alien: Earth Season 2. He's building both shows out of London's Pinewood Studios, with a shared secondary location to streamline production. Hawley will direct only the first two episodes of Far Cry and has brought on co-showrunners to help manage the workload—a smart move given he'll effectively be running two series simultaneously.
An Anthology Approach
What makes this adaptation stand out is Hawley's decision not to directly adapt any of the existing Far Cry games. Instead, he's treating the franchise as a thematic playground. "One thing that really attracted me to the Far Cry franchise is that it is an anthology," Hawley explained. "Every time they release a new game it is a totally different story. That's how I approach Fargo, and it was an exciting idea that we could build an anthology game adaptation where each season is a different story about civilized people thrown into situations where they have to become increasingly uncivilized."
This approach mirrors what Hawley did with the Coen brothers' filmography on Fargo and the X-Men universe on Legion. He's not interested in a straight retelling; he wants a dialogue with the source material. "Let me have a dialog with this franchise, because this is what I think a Far Cry story is," he said.
Why Video Game Adaptations Need a Rethink
Hawley also addressed the inherent challenges of adapting video games for television. He pointed out that games are built around gameplay, with cutscenes often feeling like afterthoughts. "When you play a video game, you only really move forward through the gameplay section, and then you have these cut scenes that you can skip," he noted. "That makes the human drama kind of irrelevant to the storyline. That is death for a show."
By focusing on the core theme of civilized people descending into savagery—a hallmark of the Far Cry series—Hawley aims to create compelling drama that stands on its own. Each season will explore this premise in a fresh setting, much like the games do with their tropical islands, Himalayan mountains, and American heartlands.
For fans of ambitious TV adaptations, this is shaping up to be one of the most intriguing projects on the horizon. Hawley's track record with genre-bending storytelling suggests Far Cry could be a standout, much like Prime Video's The Captive's War aims to redefine sci-fi survival. Stay tuned for more updates as production gears up.
