Developer Remedy has confirmed that AMC has picked up the rights to adapt its 2010 video game Alan Wake into a TV show.
In an Anniversary Update video discussing the future of the Alan Wake franchise, Remedy creative director Sam Lake announced the news: "We were quite a while ago talking about the Alan Wake TV show. Well, AMC, the wonderful, wonderful home for absolutely brilliant TV shows has bought the rights for Alan Wake. And we have been collaborating on making a TV show happen.”
The idea of an Alan Wake TV show has been floated by Remedy before. Back in 2018, it was reported by Variety that the project was in development with Peter Calloway signed on as showrunner. It's not yet confirmed if this deal with AMC will be continuing that work, or if this is an entirely new adaptation starting from scratch.
Alan Wake itself seems ripe for the small screen. The action-horror game centers on a best-selling author visiting a remote lakeside town in the hopes of combating his crippling writer’s block. After his wife mysteriously disappears the eponymous hero sets out to find her while also uncovering pages of a strange manuscript that he has no memory of writing.
It’s a setup that could easily translate well to a TV show. Even more fitting, Alan Wake was actually inspired by the popularity of DVD boxsets at the time of its release. Each chapter of the game plays out like a TV episode complete with a cliffhanger ending, and a “previously on Alan Wake...” at the start of each. Arguably there is no video game better suited to be adapted for television than Alan Wake.
Don’t forget, AMC has form when it comes to successfully adapting popular source material as well. The network’s biggest hit, The Walking Dead, is an adaptation of a comic book series of the same name. The horror show has been a juggernaut for AMC and is airing the second half of its 11th and final season this year.
AMC and Remedy haven't revealed any casting information or any sort of release window for the Alan Wake TV show yet. It's safe to assume the project is in the early stages of development at this point, so it's likely to be at least a couple of years before we actually see anything of substance.
After a dormant decade, the Alan Wake franchise has suddenly sprung into life. Last year saw the release of Alan Wake Remastered on current-gen consoles, as well as confirmation that Alan Wake 2 is officially in the works. Very little is known about this highly anticipated sequel, but Lake has already confirmed it won’t be shown off this summer.
