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Netflix picks up Kingmakers for a big-screen time twist
Netflix has acquired the rights to adapt Kingmakers, the bold and controversial title from Redemption Road Games, into a feature film. The game drops players into medieval Britain and arms them — literally — with time-travel mechanics and anachronistic, high-tech weaponry that can rewrite history. Now the concept is headed to a much bigger stage as a live-action movie backed by major producers.
Christopher MacBride, the writer-director behind cult provocations like The Conspiracy and the mind-bending thriller Flashback, has been tapped to write the screenplay. MacBride’s taste for paranoid, twisty narratives makes him a promising fit for a story that blends historical drama with science-fiction action. Production partners include Shawn Levy’s 21 Laps and Story Kitchen, with producers listed as Shawn Levy, Dan Levine, Dimitri M. Johnson, Michael Lawrence Goldberg, and Timothy L. Stevenson.
What to expect from the adaptation
Kingmakers’ core hook — time travel surgery performed on medieval power struggles — offers cinematic spectacle: armored knights confronting futuristic weaponry, political intrigue reframed by temporal sabotage, and the moral fallout of changing the past. The challenge for the filmmakers will be translating interactive strategy and player agency into a compelling, character-driven screenplay that retains the game’s stakes without feeling like a checklist of set pieces.
This adaptation joins a growing line of game-to-screen projects. Think of Netflix’s success with The Witcher (game/novel hybrid), or the mixed reception of Assassin’s Creed on film; Kingmakers could benefit from lessons learned in both. It also evokes cinematic cousins like Timeline and Outlander — stories that marry historical settings to time-travel ethics — while promising a grittier, more tactical edge.
Fans of the original game have responded with cautious excitement and lively debate in community forums. Some praise the premise for its originality; others worry the film will lose the game’s strategic depth. Industry watchers will be paying attention to casting choices and the production’s visual approach: will it lean into brutal realism or high-concept sci-fi spectacle?
Beyond entertainment, Kingmakers taps into a cultural appetite for reexamining history through speculative lenses — a trend visible in series and films that remix past and future to ask contemporary questions about power and technology.
Production timeline and release details are still under wraps. For now, Netflix’s move signals continued investment in cinematic game adaptations and ambitious, genre-blending stories.
In short: Kingmakers could become one of Netflix’s more intriguing experiments in turning interactive strategy into cinematic drama — if the screenplay balances spectacle with the ethical complexity at the heart of the game.
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