Announced more than 10 years ago, the feature-length film based on the series of cult stealth action games Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell from Ubisoft, it seems, will never come out of the shadows.
Image source: Ubisoft
Let us recall that Ubisoft announced plans to film Splinter Cell back in the spring of 2011, and at the end of 2012, actor Tom Hardy, currently known for his portrayals, was cast in the role of Sam Fisher.
- Bane in The Dark Knight Rises (2012);
- Max Rockatansky in the action movie Mad Max: Fury Road (2015);
- Eddie Brock / Venom in the Venom trilogy (2018, 2021, 2024).
By 2013, New Regency took over production, with Basil Iwanyk as producer. In 2014, Doug Liman, director of Edge of Tomorrow, was appointed director of the film, but already in 2015 he left the project.
The last time fans heard about a Splinter Cell film adaptation was in early 2017. Iwanyk then stated that the script was ready and was waiting for Hardy to review. The film was planned to be “cool”, but within the framework of the “from 13 years old” rating.
Image source: Kotaku
Seven years later, in a conversation with The Direct, Iwanyk confirmed that the film adaptation of Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell with Tom Hardy as Sam Fisher was still not destined to come out: “This film would be so cool…”
«We couldn’t put everything together: the script, the budget. But it had to be good. We had a million different versions: it could have been hardcore and cool, but it turned out to be one of those that eluded us. It’s sad,” Ivanik complained.
However, the future for Splinter Cell fans is not entirely bleak: Netflix will release the animated series Splinter Cell: Deathwatch in 2025, and Ubisoft Toronto studio is still working on a remake of the first game in the series.