This week was pretty rough for British actor Henry Cavill. After announcing his official return as Superman back in October and a cameo in Dwayne Johnson‘s “Black Adam,” it now appears Cavill as Superman is no longer part of the DCU‘s long-term plans. While James Gunn (“The Suicide Squad“) is officially writing a new Superman film, DC Studios will search for a new actor and director for that project. The Superman news and Cavill’s recent exit from Netflix‘s “The Witcher” series produced worries from Cavill devotees that the actor’s career might be in trouble. That’s hardly the case, though. The actor begins shooting Guy Ritchie‘s WWII spy film “The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare” next month in Turkey and also has a “Highlander” reboot upcoming from “John Wick” franchise director Chad Stahelski.
READ MORE: James Gunn Writing New ‘Superman’ Film, Henry Cavill Won’t Return As ‘Man Of Steel’
Now another future Cavill project emerges. The Hollywood Reporter reveals that Amazon is in “final talks” to secure the rights to the expansive sci-fi fantasy gaming franchise “Warhammer 40k” with Cavill attached to both star and produce in a streaming series. Meanwhile, Deadline confirms that the terms also encompass rights to future “Warhammer 40k” films, games, and animation, too. The news comes as no surprise for fans of the actor; Cavill’s a lifelong fan of the gaming franchise and frequently brings it up in interviews. The property mixes various gaming options with a table-top version with elaborate miniature figures that would mirror “Dungeons & Dragons” type storytelling or more of a written narrative with the multiple video games.
Here is how THR describes the universe of “Warhammer 40K”:
Set 40,000 years into the future where things are dark indeed. Human civilization has stopped progressing and is in an unending war with aliens and magical beings, with gods and demons figuring into a theological class system. The humans make up the Imperium of Man, who are militaristic. A race of skeleton-like androids are known as the Necron; there is an elvish race known as Aeldari as well as Orks; Tyranids are nasty aliens; and the T’au is a blue-skinned alien race that may offer some hope.
No one’s attached to “Warhammer 40k” creatively just yet, but expect that to change soon. The newly announced film and series wouldn’t be the first high-profile project based on a video game at Amazon. They also have a “Fallout” series on the way from Jonathan Nolan (“Westworld“) that has a post-apocalypse setting, a series based on the off-world sci-fi games “Mass Effect,” and more recently landed the “God of War” show based on the massively popular mature PlayStation exclusive game that explores a version of Norse/Greek mythology.