Sony Pictures Television and PlayStation Productions are developing a live-action series based on the Twisted Metal video game franchise. The adaptation will be based on an original take from Deadpool and Zombieland writers Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick.
Released in 1995, the first Twisted Metal game allowed players to select a vehicle with which they would fight rivals using a variety of weapons located within the arena of their choice, with the last driver standing being crowned the victor. Twisted Metal and its sequels centered on the titular vehicular combat tournament, with the sinister Needles Kane, driver of the killer clown-themed vehicle known as Sweet Tooth, being one of the most recognizable characters of the franchise.
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Per Variety, Sony and PlayStation Productions' television adaptation of Twisted Metal is described as an action-comedy about a "motor-mouthed outsider" who is offered a chance at a better life. However, the offer is on the condition that they can successfully deliver a mysterious package across a post-apocalyptic wasteland. Joining forces with a "trigger-happy" car thief, the central character of the series will be threatened by drivers of armed vehicles, including one driven by a deranged clown. The LEGO Batman Movie star Will Arnett has been rumored to be voicing Sweet Tooth for a cameo, but an individual close to the project informed Variety that no such deal is currently in place.
Michael Jonathan Smith, who previously wrote and produced episodes of Netflix's Cobra Kai, is onboard the Twisted Metal series as writer and executive producer. Reese and Wernick are also attached as executive producers, as are Asad Qizilbash and Carter Swan of PlayStation Productions and PlayStation Studios head Hermen Hulst. Arnett will serve as executive producer through his Electric Avenue production company alongside Artists First's Marc Forman and Peter Principato.
The Twisted Metal series is only the latest video game adaptation being developed by Sony Pictures Television and PlayStation Productions. Both parties are also moving forward with an adaptation of The Last of Us, an action-adventure game set in a post-apocalyptic world overrun by cannibalistic people and creatures infected by a mutated fungus. The Mandalorian and Wonder Woman 1984 star Pedro Pascal will star the smuggler Joe opposite Game of Thrones star Bella Ramsey, who will portray Ellie.
Whether Sony and PlayStation Productions' Twisted Metal series can live up to the expectations of fans is hard to determine without more details on the project. However, reception towards the casting for The Last of Us series has been generally positive, so that may instill confidence when it comes to the Twisted Metal adaptation.
Twisted Metal is in development at Sony Pictures Television.
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Source: Variety