WoW fans are hoping a TV show is in the cards—not another movie

When asked about the possibility of another World of Warcraft movie, Blizzard Entertainment expressed an interest in expanding the franchise beyond video games. But fans seem to prefer the idea of a TV show instead.

During BlizzCon 2023, World of Warcraft vice president and executive producer Holly Longdale and general manager John Hight spoke with IGN about the future of the series. They touched upon the possibility of more multimedia adaptations, with Hight admitting that’s the reason why “we’ve somewhat reorganized as the Warcraft Universe… We start with games, and we are going to expand beyond that. Our main purpose this year has been about, ‘Hey, let’s get all this aligned.’… We are going to branch into other things, but first, we want people to start seeing this as not just a single game but really a plan for the future.”

Hight’s comments recently reached the World of Warcraft subreddit and judging by the comments, most fans are thoroughly uninterested in seeing any more attempts at a movie adaptation, especially after the 2016 Warcraft film. Several fans argue that a TV show would make the most sense since the story of World of Warcraft is “too big” to cover in a two-hour movie.

“WoW’s story is too big and complex to properly fit into under three hours unless they’re going for very specific moments,” Pale-Stranger9743 said. Another fan, Pegussu, added, “Two hours is not enough time. Do a TV show. Animation would be my preference just because there’s a lotta fuckin’ magic that needs to happen.”

Netflix adaptations Arcane and Castlevania are brought up as examples of what a WoW show should be like, with more than a few fans suggesting an adaptation of Arthas’ storyline and his journey from hero to the dreaded Lich King.

Unsurprisingly, people point to the 2016 movie as the reason why there should never be another one; something even those who liked it, such as S-Vineyard, agreed with. Grathungar thinks the movie wasn’t too bad, but “felt super compressed at the end” and suffered from bad marketing: “They marketed it like some generic action flick with loud EDM playing during smash cuts of fight scenes and flying around and it just looked so bad from the commercials.”

Some like DisasterDifferent543 think it doesn’t matter if WoW is turned into a movie or TV show; all that matters is the writing: “If you have garbage writing, the medium being used won’t matter. Blizzard can just as easily screw up an animated series as they can (and did) a movie.”

At this rate, a TV show is perhaps more viable, especially after success stories like Arcane and Castlevania. However, while the 2016 movie saw negative reviews, it was ultimately very profitable, making most of its money in China. It even became the highest-grossing video game adaptation ever made at the time, which could incentivize a sequel, though it has since lost the crown to The Super Mario Bros. Movie.