Peter Calloway (Cloak and Dagger, Legion) is currently developing a live-action series adaptation of video game Alan Wake, Variety has confirmed with Contradiction Films and Remedy Entertainment. Calloway will serve as showrunner and writer, with Alan Wake game creator Sam Lake set to executive produce.
Tomas Harlan, a Contradiction partner, told the outlet that they will start shopping the series around in October, and some studios have already expressed some interest. He also made it clear that Lake will be working closely on the project since Alan Wake “is his baby” and the original creator’s vision was that Alan Wake was essentially a TV series placed into a video game.
Alan Wake was released on the Xbox 360 and Windows PC in 2010. The story followed fictitious best-selling author Alan Wake (Matthew Porretta) on a journey to a small town in Washington state where he hopes to rid himself of prolonged writer’s block. What follows is an increasingly surreal experience that seems to bring the plot from his last novel — which he has no memory of writing — to life. On a search for his missing wife, Wake begins to question his own sanity.
Lake’s game was influenced by The Twilight Zone, Secret Window, Northern Exposure, masters of horror Stephen King and Alfred Hitchcock, and other television projects. The influence of television even makes its way into the game with the way Alan Wake was structured episodically and in-game television programs making their way into the game, which ended up selling 4.5 million copies.
“Definitely what we have mapped out is a longer thing than the first game and a sequel; there is more to it,” Lake said. “In many ways, we see the universe as a bigger thing. Alan Wake is a very central character, but we have other characters around him like [friend and agent Barry Wheeler] and his wife Alice and Sheriff Sarah Breaker and other characters there. We feel this is a big universe to develop and explore in many ways.”
Lake and Harlan both talked about how important the side characters of the game are, and that while the original game will work as the starting point of the story in the series, they will be “expanding the lore of this crazy and dark universe and diving deeper into certain aspects of it than the game ever did.”
While players might be sad to learn that there is currently no news of more Alan Wake games, they can still look forward to seeing elements of some of what was planned for the sequel in the series. Harlan also mentioned that Alan Wake will be successful as an adapted television series instead of a movie, saying that TV is a better fit for video game adaptations.
