Reportedly Sony Pictures Television is partnering with Square Enix and Hivemind (the studio behind The Expanse and the upcoming Witcher Netflix series) to create a live-action television series set in Eorzea, the setting of Final Fantasy XIV, the franchise’s newest MMO. While details are currently sparse, the ones we do have are promising.
We know little beyond the setting, save that Ben Lustig and Jake Thornton are part of the talent tapped to write it. The film will likely have Cid (presumably Cid Garlond, the game’s airship engineer) in a prominent role.
That in itself sparks some interesting idea for how this series could go. A political drama surrounding Cid’s backstory as the star scientist of the Garlean empire’s military and the relationships he had with his peers (which have turned sour, to say the least, by the time A Realm Reborn rolls around) could be in the cards if Sony wants to avoid treading on ground already worn by the game itself. The promise that magic and airships will undoubtedly play a role in the series, and that the story may involve a thematic conflict between magic and technology doesn’t point one way or another on that.
Of course, nothing is absolute, and we’re going to provide updates as we learn more details. But with the talent working on it and the source material being story heavy already, there is a reason to be optimistic. Both The Expanse and The Witcher are adaptations, with the latter being at least video game adjacent (the series is based more on the books than CD Projekt Red’s games), so The Witcher‘s quality is going to be the litmus test to see if Hivemind can succeed twice.
