Speculation: What Kind of Destiny Film Adaptation Сan We Expect?
Destiny is an incredibly intriguing game franchise. This project has achieved the creation of a separate game genre, turned the gaming industry upside down as Halo once did, and of course, is the brainchild of the Bungie studio. The universe of this MMO is incredibly deep, the characters are memorable, and as much love is poured into it as into Halo, which is very much similar to its brother.
Still, fans continue discussing that we may soon see something about Destiny Movie. Especially these conversations skyrocketed with the purchase of the studio by Sony, the hiring of particular employees for Linear Media, as well as the release of many Video Game Adaptations, like Halo, The Last of Us, and Super Mario Bros. Right now is the best time for the franchise to hit the screens of viewers, as everyone is more interested in this kind of content than ever.
In this article, we decided to speculate on this topic and whether Bungie has the ability to pull off such a project at all. If yes or no, then for what reason? And how can we see such an adaptation? All about this topic and not only in the WowVendor article.
Destiny’s Film Adaptation Problem
Before proceeding to a full-fledged discussion of what kind of film or TV Show may await us, we should make some points regarding challenges in creating them.
Destiny Lore is a Main Challenge for the Global Viewer
We all know the lore of this franchise is incredibly extensive and has a high entry threshold. It takes hours to study and weeks to fully comprehend and remember it. For a comfortable perception of the story, the viewer either needs to have basic knowledge of the game world before watching or receive explanations along the story for any questions that arise. From this, we identify another problem: information overload for the audience.
The General Audience Will Find It Difficult to Immerse in the Game’s Universe
As stated above, the world of Destiny is vast, and there are too many events to count in one movie or even a season. Scriptwriters face a challenging task in expertly setting the first contact of a new audience with this Bungie universe and holding their attention. Bungie has already failed this task with the release of the Lightfall DLC, where even the established audience lost interest in the plot due to poor narrative delivery. The writers will have to consider every step and ensure the adaptation’s story is captivating, engaging, and, importantly, comprehensible and somewhat completed.
A High Budget Is Necessary for a Full-Fledged and Quality Adaptation
One of Sony’s film studios or partners could undertake the TV Show, as Bungie is under Playstation’s wing. Sony recently collaborated with HBO, which ordered The Last of Us series. Although highly anticipated, the series only featured CGI sparingly and minimally showed Infected characters throughout the nine episodes. Therefore, there arises an immediate problem — exo-people, alien races, and unique space armor for each character. The budget for such a film or series should be at the level of Warcraft, if not more, and this is one of the main problems.
It Is Much More Beneficial and Easier to Release an Animated Adaptation
The main reason why Destiny movie adaptation is problematic is the new dawn of animation in the industry. Riot Games’ experiment as Arcane proved that animated interpretations of game stories are in demand by the public. League of Legends has been adapted into a show with a sophisticated storyline honoring the intricate lore despite its plot being confined to descriptions, notes, and narrative events rather than being shown within the LoL itself. Capcom has recently released a new animated film on Resident Evil and has been doing it for 20 years, pleasing fans with realistic animation with shootouts and gore. Bungie has shown many times in the game how natural, beautiful, and high-quality cinematics look. Choosing the path of an animated version is one of the most realistic options in current realities, allowing them to show any events of the MMO universe without any limitations.
All Possible Adaptation Options
Still, suppose we lived up to the moment with an announcement of a Destiny 2 movie, series, or animation. What kind of adaptation could we expect?
Theory 1 — Retelling the Game’s Events
Perhaps the first thing that comes to mind when discussing a Movie or TV series about a videogame is its direct adaptation. Thus, we already have The Last of Us show, which adapted all the key moments of The Last of Us Part 1, or Five Nights at Freddy’s Movie, which could also retell the first game’s events. Obviously, this is the most reliable and convenient option in the Movie industry, as the general audience will be introduced to the franchise for the first time on the screen. At the same time, fans will get a dose of nostalgia by watching the legendary events of the beloved title.
Unfortunately, we are talking about Destiny, an MMO looter shooter, where the original storyline was more of a formality. Many game critics criticized the plot of the first part in 2014 because of its incompleteness, meaninglessness, and general emptiness without a single hook for a complete story. Expansions soon began to correct these problems, and the second part from the very beginning told us an epic saga of the Red War, but this may not be enough to have a full-fledged film or show. The writers should expand the title’s storyline with more thoughtful dialogues, full-fledged internal stories and intrigues, and, most importantly, do something with the main character.
The authors of the Movie/TV Show could take responsibility for the last point and make a cinematic version of The Guardian, ultimately leading to many community disputes due to attempts to understand the canonicity of local events. At the same time, they may simply not show them and just mention them in the background when needed, which could create a problem as the general audience may be unfamiliar with the context behind the main character. There is a risk that Movie creators would entirely remove the Guardian, and other characters will take over Guardian’s role, creating issues with the canonicity of events and the parallel universe theory.
Summarizing the first theory: a direct Destiny movie or show is an unlikely thing in modern Hollywood. Game conventions and the original weak plot could be obstacles on the way to creating a movie or show. The best option is adapting the Red War, but many improvements must be made. If we could assess the likelihood of this theory outcome, the chance of such an adaptation is only 20%. There are much more attractive options, such as retelling the lore.
Theory 2 — TV Show Backstory
All Destiny fans might agree that if the franchise received a film, the best option would be a series with events preceding the first part. Why so? As we described above, initially, Bungie poorly wrote up game’s plot, and it would require a complete rewrite to create a series/movie. The lore, on the other hand, is the complete opposite. Everything in it is detailed, sometimes even backed up with solid dialogues between characters and entertaining stories.
Furthermore, a series is an ideal option due to the extensive lore, which would be hard to explain within a movie. If Destiny the Movie ever sees the light of day, we would have a second coming of Warcraft the Movie, which failed for the mass audience. An HBO series option with hour-long episodes is preferable.
TL;DR The second theory is about a TV show which tells the story in the Destiny universe after the first Collapse. Fans and viewers will get detailed stories about beloved game characters, explanations of who is an enemy and a friend, and answers on why everything turned out the way it did. The audience will also epically go through all events, participating in full-scale wars with their drama, love, flame, and epic up to the season finale. The second theory ensures that the mass audience will be able to fully immerse themselves in this universe, going through the journey along with a character or getting answers through a narrator. This option is the most optimal and has every chance of becoming a reality.
If you’re interested in how we reached that speculation, we further substantiate our theory with its complete explanation.
As part of the speculation, we assume that the narration could be conducted in two ways: from the perspective of a specific hero or a narrator’s side.
The first option is good because the viewer will be able to experience and learn about the world of the Destiny TV Show for the first time, along with the protagonist. The hero of the story could be Zavala after his awakening as a Guardian. Fans and the general audience will get to meet him for the first time, encounter extraterrestrial antagonists in the form of the Fallen race, witness the creation of The Last City, and experience various major historical events. At the same time, with the first option, they may introduce viewers to similar events from the perspective of a just-awakened Guardian (aka an original character purely made for the series), who will follow a similar path and be saved by Zavala, to arrive at an almost built Last City eventually. Both first options are excellent, as the general audience will be able to become acquainted with the game’s universe by going along with characters who have yet to learn what’s going on here.
The second option suggests that someone will narrate the show’s story. In other words, the narration could come from a storyteller who has an ability to pause at any moment to describe additional lore details to the viewer for a better understanding of the unfolding events. Savathun, who in the game universe is the goddess of trickiness and deceit that has participated in almost all key events, remaining in the shadows or unnoticed, could perfectly fit the role of the storyteller. She is capable of explaining to the audience how humanity came to the Collapse, why Zavala is an awakened one, and who exactly is the Awakened Race while recounting the events of the Golden Age. Suggested storytelling formula helps the Destiny adaptation to be understandable to the mass audience while making an interesting move in the industry with an unusual story narrative.
Moreover, retelling lore stories could be noteworthy as fans and newcomers could see critical events only mentioned in lore books. For instance, the TV series could show the construction of the Last City and many important heroes like Osiris, Shaxx, Saint-14, Saladin, and many others. In addition, show creators could mention the beginning of the Dark Age, the birth of the Iron Lords, and their conflict with the Warlords. The Battle of Six Fronts could be a beautiful season finale.
In any case, that’s our version of how the studio could do it. They, in turn, could completely convey and make the events their way but base it on the ones in the Lorebooks. That’s one of the most appealing options to Hollywood film producers and Bungie itself. The studio will be able to fully expand the franchise’s audience by introducing many people to the franchise and showing fans something that was not in the game and was only part of the lore books. Retelling the lore is the best option with an 80% outcome.
Theory 3 — Writers Creative Freedom
And our last theory involves creating an entirely original story in the Destiny universe, where any plot restrictions won’t limit the scriptwriters. We could get something akin to Arcane, where the creators presented a version of the game’s main character’s origin story (Jinx, Vi, Caitlyn, etc.), who were previously known only through lore descriptions or in-game events. Furthermore, they invented a new character solely for the animated series named Silco.
Bungie could go a similar route, telling us the story of characters or even a race through a similar animated or live-action project. We could learn much more about Zavala’s dramatic past, witness Cayde’s adventures, or delve into a dark horror backstory through Eris Morn. There are numerous possibilities here, but the main problem is that such stories require a prepared audience. Yes, fans would greatly enjoy watching it. Still, it won’t attract the general viewer, as they might not understand what’s happening on the screen.
Nevertheless, let’s take another example. The Mandalorian managed to revive the entire Star Wars franchise, attracting attention from people who were never interested or didn’t understand the essence of the space opera. The series was able to tell a grounded story about two characters and their journey through the universe, instructing the audience about the world and immersing viewers more and more into it. Essentially, that’s the perfect example of how to make an adaptation, including Destiny, but obviously with its own spin. There are too many genres open for this space fantasy, and the best of all would be an action adventure with gunfights and cosmic magic.
Final Words
A Destiny adaptation is an incredibly complex thing. And we yearn to see it with every fiber of our being. We hope Bungie will be able to handle this challenging task and tell the world about the fascinating universe of the looter shooter that has pierced our hearts and remains there to this day.
If you liked our ideas and speculations, be sure to join the comments below. We would be very interested in discussing current topic with you and perhaps even expanding the article with your thoughts!
Thanks for Reading! Owl is Flying Away.
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