‘Smacked me in the face with its potential consequences’

The recent revelation of the cancelation of Tom Hardy’s Splinter Cell movie is another blow to fans hoping to see their favorite black-ops agent come to life on the big screen. Originally announced in 2012, Tom Hardy was to play Sam Fisher, the iconic stealth agent of Third Echelon.

Despite years of development and high anticipation, the project crumbled due to budget and script issues. Producer Basil Iwanyk confirmed its demise saying that it was “one of the ones that got away.” It’s such a pity because the Splinter Cell franchise has some storylines that could’ve truly shined.

Tom Hardy Could’ve Done Justice To Some Of Splinter Cell‘s Storylines

Richard Dansky, a longtime writer for the Splinter Cell series, knows the weight of Sam Fisher’s choices better than anyone. Dansky has overseen the series’ narrative since his early days at Red Storm Entertainment.

Speaking to Game Developer, he previously described a story moment that “smacked [him] in the face with its potential consequences.”

The story moment I like best from the most recent round of Clancy games is in Double Agent, when Sam is given the choice of letting the terrorists take out the cruise ship – and a lot of innocent people with it – or stopping them, and risk getting someone he’s got a personal attachment to killed.

In Double Agent, Sam Fisher faces a crucial choice on a cruise ship mission: he must decide whether to let a terrorist-planted bomb explode, killing hundreds of innocent people, or to risk his life and loyalty to prevent the attack.

#SplinterCell live-action movie starring Tom Hardy is officially dead

(via @Thedirect) pic.twitter.com/O7WBXzV1lI

— Culture Crave 🍿 (@CultureCrave) November 14, 2024

Announced in 2012, the hype for the Splinter Cell movie was ignited by Tom Hardy’s casting as Sam Fisher, the black-ops operative at the heart of the Splinter Cell series. Hardy’s intense and shadowy persona seemed a perfect fit for Fisher’s morally gray missions and covert operations.

According to Dansky this narrative delivered high emotional stakes and moral complexity. Such a storyline could have captured the essence of Fisher’s duality in a live action adaptation. It would’ve given Hardy a compelling character arc filled with weighty decisions.

Now That It’s Cancelled All Hope Is Lost

The project has ultimately been cancelled, as confirmed by Basil Iwanyk, who was the movie’s producer. Iwanyk signed up to produce the movie in 2013 and recently talked to The Direct about the cancelled project.

That movie would have been awesome… Just couldn’t get it right, script-wise, budget-wise. But it was going to be great. We had a million different versions of it, but it was going to be hardcore and awesome. That’s one of the ones that got away, which is really sad.

Hollywood’s track record with video game adaptations has been mixed at best. Unlike colorful franchises like Super Mario, Splinter Cell’s themes of espionage, betrayal, and moral conflict are harder to translate for mainstream audiences.

For now, Splinter Cell’s cinematic future remains uncertain. However, Ubisoft has not entirely forgotten its stealth-action property. A Netflix animated series titled Splinter Cell: Deathwatch, starring Liev Schreiber as Fisher, is set for release in 2025.

The failure to launch this film isn’t the only setback for the franchise. Ubisoft’s treatment of the action franchise has frustrated fans for years, as no new mainline games have been released since 2013’s Splinter Cell: Blacklist.

While a remake of the original game was announced in 2021, it remains in development limbo.