Skydance Television, an American independent production company, has obtained the rights to a live-action Sword Art Online television series from Kadokawa.
In a press release -- via Anime News Network -- Skydance made the announcement but also plans to launch a first-of-its-kind SAO virtual reality experience through Skydance Interactive.
“At Skydance we are in the business of world-building and SAO is a massive pop-culture phenomenon from which we plan to launch a full-scale and wide-ranging set of live action franchise extensions across our business verticals, beginning with television,” said Skydance Media Chief Executive Officer David Ellison in a press release. “We look forward to working alongside Laeta, Reki Kawahara and the teams at KADOKAWA and Aniplex to build out a deeply immersive new universe of SAO in an authentic way that honors its well-established fan base around the globe.”
The company wants to fast-track the Sword Art Online live-action television series with Laeta Kalogridis (Avatar, Terminator Genisys) writing the script and executive producing along with David Ellison, Dana Goldberg and Marcy Ross of Skydance. Kalogridis is also credited for writing the script for the upcoming Ghost in the Shell movie starring Scarlett Johansson.
“For years I have been inspired by the inventive and masterful storytelling of the SAO franchise,” Kalogridis said in the press release. “I’m thrilled to get the opportunity to work with such talented partners to bring this cutting-edge yet timeless story to a new format at Skydance.”
While the plot of the upcoming Sword Art Online television adaption is not known, fans should expect it to keep the same beats as the anime/light novels from creator Reki Kawahara where in the future, a game developer has trapped thousands of virtual reality gamers in his game where death in-game means death in real life.
There is no release date window but we will update as soon as we learn more but in the meantime let us know if you’d like to see a live-action Sword Art Online TV series in the comments section below.
