Splinter Cell is reportedly coming back—as an anime series on Netflix

Splinter Cell
(Image credit: Ubisoft)

Earlier this month, Fraser made his displeasure over Ubisoft's handling of the Splinter Cell series very clear, describing its shabby treatment of Sam Fisher and friends as "elaborate trolling" that's been stringing fans along for seven years. Well folks, I'm here to tell you that it's not done with us yet: There's still no sign of a new Splinter Cell game, but Variety reports that Ubi has signed a deal with Netflix to make a Splinter Cell anime series.

The series will be written by John Wick co-creator Derek Kolstad, who has a number of other gaming-related projects in the works including a Just Cause movie, a television series based on My Friend Pedro, and a Hitman series for Hulu, although I'm not sure what the status on that one is at this point. Kolstad will also serve as executive producer, according to the report, which says that 16 episodes, for two seasons, have been ordered.

Splinter Cell, a stealth-action game about a modern-day ninja that's voiced to perfection by Michael Ironside (with a brief detour for Eric Johnson in 2013) debuted almost 20 years ago, and for awhile was one of Ubisoft's best-known series. But the last full game was Blacklist in 2013, and while the years since have given us numerous comeback rumors and teases, all we've actually seen so far are brief cameo appearances (with Ironside back in the saddle) and, most recently—raising Fraser's ire—a spot in the upcoming mobile game Elite Tactics.

Neither Ubisoft nor Netflix commented on the Variety report, but I've reached out to both and will update if I receive a reply.

TOPICS
Andy Chalk
US News Lead

Andy has been gaming on PCs from the very beginning, starting as a youngster with text adventures and primitive action games on a cassette-based TRS80. From there he graduated to the glory days of Sierra Online adventures and Microprose sims, ran a local BBS, learned how to build PCs, and developed a longstanding love of RPGs, immersive sims, and shooters. He began writing videogame news in 2007 for The Escapist and somehow managed to avoid getting fired until 2014, when he joined the storied ranks of PC Gamer. He covers all aspects of the industry, from new game announcements and patch notes to legal disputes, Twitch beefs, esports, and Henry Cavill. Lots of Henry Cavill.

Latest in Movies & TV
Pedro Pascal as Joel in a coat in winter looking unhappy
'Don't you know what he did?': The truth comes out in The Last of Us Season 2 trailer
Milla Jovovovovovich pointing a sawed-off shotgun at something offscreen, presumably a monster or zombie or something
The Resident Evil movie reboot bidding war is over, and the winner is… Sony, who did every one of those other pretty terrible Resident Evil movies
Roderick de Wett Gwent card art detail
The Witcher show finally adds a character exclusive to the games, too bad he's 'exceptionally loathsome and arrogant'
Jason Momoa, Jack Black, and a kid in Minecraft
Based on its new trailer, I predict A Minecraft Movie will make A Trillion Dollars
MrBeast smiling in front of a pile of cash
'I'm an idiot': MrBeast says he lost 'tens of millions of dollars' of his own money on Amazon's Beast Games
Andor from Andor, smirking
Andor Season 2 trailer is action-packed, but hopefully the show is still actually packed with interesting people quietly talking to each other
Latest in News
A masked man with an axe in the woods
Rebellion CEO seems kind of awed by major studios making massive videogames: 'How do you organize a game that has 2,000 people working on it?'
A young witch watering a smiling mushroom in a magic garden
Here's a roguelite dungeon crawler Steam reviewers call 'a botanical Diablo' and 'like Cult of the Lamb' except you manage a mystical garden
Destiny 2 Rite of the Nine: The Emissary, massive, ominously standing at the edge of a water basin.
Oops! Bungie rolled out Destiny 2's Rite of the Nine event three weeks early, and new loot is already dropping
No Rest for the Wicked Steam early access screenshots
No Rest for the Wicked developer Moon Studios is now 'fully independent' after acquiring the rights to the game from Take-Two
A hunter posing with an absurd Blangonga outfit in Monster Hunter Wilds.
Attention, fashion hunters: There's a Monster Hunter Wilds mod to disable all those obnoxious glowing buff effects that distract from your fits
Fallout New Vegas Key Art
The Fallout season 2 leaks continue with videos of the New Vegas set, including a sign for Mr. House's casino