Disco Elysium is Getting a TV Adaptation

Disco Elysium is a phenomenal roleplaying game, with perhaps one of the best (if not the best) video game narratives of the last decade. I may not be alone in that sentiment, because ZA/UM’s masterpiece is making the move over to the small screen (smaller screen?). According to a report from Variety, ZA/UM and production company dj2 Entertainment have come together to, “…develop a series based on the game.”

dj2 Entertainment CEO and founder Dmitri M. Johnson co-produced this year’s successful ‘Sonic the Hedgehog’ film adaptation, and the company is currently working on TV versions of Dontnod’s ‘Life is Strange’ and ‘Vampyr’. While ‘Sonic the Hedgehog’ may not have been a critical darling it reviewed well and was beloved by fans, and has since become the highest-grossing video game movie ever made.

The report further clarifies that, “[n]o writer is currently attached, nor is a network or streaming service. dj2 is now meeting writers in anticipation of pitching the property later this year.” In plain English that means it’ll be some time before we learn more about the Disco Elysium TV series, though one would hope dj2 Entertainment has the good sense to at least keep Robert Kurvitz (ZA/UM founder and author of the novel “A Sacred Terrible Air”, which established the universe Disco Elysium occurs within) attached as a consultant.

As many of us can attest, there have been plenty of games we’ve wanted to share with our non-gaming friends and family. If the TV show can ace the surreal tone and wild internal monologues of the game then maybe, just maybe, I can finally show those loved ones why I adore Disco Elysium. It’ll be a while yet till we know for sure, but consider me cautiously, cautiously optimistic.