Sci-Fi Bulletin: Exploring the Universes of SF, Fantasy, Horror and Spy-fi!

Toby Wallace has been cast as one of the two leads in Assassin’s Creed, the Netflix adaptation of possibly the oddest AAA video game franchise in the western world, reports Alasdair Stuart. Buckle up, here comes the whistlestop tour.

First off, Wallace is an up and comer with memorable roles in Euphoria and oddly compelling Tom Hardy/Austin Butler/Jodie Comer tragedy The Bikeriders. He’s good, with a strong physical presence but seething with complex emotions. He’s a good choice for either of the two lead roles here.

Why two lead roles? Because Assassin’s Creed is about the history-long battle between the Templars, a human organisation dedicated to the silent subjugation and control of humanity, and the Assassins who believe in free will. And by history-long I mean HISTORY-LONG. Several of the early games reveal that humanity is the second dominant species on Earth, and we were essentially servitors created by the first who have scattered their technology and digital ghosts of themselves across the world. The Templars want to control humanity using them. The Assassins want to stop the Templars.

The games are set everywhere in recorded history, as well as the present day. This is achieved by a central piece of technology called the Animus. The Animus reads the person wearing its DNA, and isolates memories from their ancestors which they’re then projected into. So, if the Templars want to find out what was going on with a particular person during the American Civil War, they find their descendant, throw them in an Animus and watch them making their way through their ancestor’s life. If the Assassins want to activate a worldwide solar flare defence system, they must break a Templar prisoner out, walk him through his past and dig up one or two enormous tombs. Both things happen in the games by the way.

So, Wallace is either playing, I’d guess, the ‘upstream’ present day protagonist or their Assassin ancestor. He’s a good fit for either and a good sign the show’s making strong choices. The Michael Fassbender fronted movie was… not great, but a series with ideas this colossal should do much better across a multi episode season.

Assassin’s Creed is in pre-production now. If you’re interested in the games, pick up the latest, Assassin’s Creed Shadows set in feudal Japan, it’s great.