Will be a post-apocalyptic action comedy.
Twisted Metal, developer David Jaffe’s brash vehicular combat series, is the latest video game property to get the TV adaptation treatment.
Twisted Metal’s demolition derby of death debuted on PlayStation and PC back in 1995, and has seen its way through eight main series entries and two spin-offs since then, most recently appearing in the form of 2012’s Twisted Metal on PS3.
It’s a series that’s garnered a dedicated fanbase over its quarter century of existence (although it’s always struck more of a chord in North America than over here), and Sony Pictures Television first touted turning it into a TV show back in 2019.
Twisted Metal, 2012 Launch Trailer.
There’s been little word on the project since then, but now Variety reports that Sony Pictures Television and PlayStation Productions’ Twisted Metal TV adaptation is officially go, with Cobra Kai writer Michael Jonathan Smith penning the action comedy based on an “original take” by Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick – the writing duo behind the Zombieland and Deadpool films.
Supposedly, it’ll tell the story of a motor-mouthed outsider who’s offered a chance at a better life – as long as he can deliver a mysterious package across a post-apocalyptic wasteland. “With the help of a trigger-happy car thief,” explains Variety, “he’ll face savage marauders driving vehicles of destruction and other dangers of the open road, including a deranged clown named [Sweet Tooth] who drives an all too familiar ice cream truck.”
Sony Pictures Television and PlayStation Productions are also currently working on a TV adaptation of Naughty Dog’s critically acclaimed The Last of Us series for HBO. Chernobyl creator Craig Mazin is penning the script, Kantemir Balagov will direct the pilot, with Pedro Pascal and Bella Ramsey starring as the adaptation’s Joel and Ellie.
