After years of development hell, Ubisoft’s Watch Dogs movie finally begins shooting

Nearly a decade after its first announcement, Ubisoft’s Watch Dogs movie has finally begun filming.

An update The Assassin’s Creed and Far Cry publisher on social media last night showed a set photo with the caption: “Lights_Camera_Action.exe”.

Ubisoft has kept details of the film’s plot close to its chest, and for years there seemed little movement on its plans to adapt its hacking-focused high-tech open-world franchise for the big screen.

But earlier this year, things appeared to finally get moving with a report via Deadline that the project would be helmed by director Mathieu Turi (currently adapting A Plague Tale for television), working from a screenplay by Christie LeBlanc – the writer behind Netflix’s 2021 French sci-fi thriller Oxygen.

Talk to Me actor Sophie Wilde was said to be in talks to star.

Last month, a further report by Deadline appeared to confirm Wilde’s involvement and additionally noted that Hunger Games prequel movie star Tom Blyth was also attached.

Ubisoft’s official photo does indeed show Turi’s name, proving that report is correct.

It’s unclear whether this Watch Dogs film will be an original tale or based on any of the three main Watch Dogs games released so far: the gritty Chicago-set original starring gruff hacker Aiden Pearce, the sunnier San Francisco-set sequel starring the youthful Marcus Holloway, or the grim post-Brexit London-set Watch Dogs Legion, launched in 2020.

Ubisoft finally getting the project going now is also somewhat ironic, seeing as no new games in the franchise appear to currently be in development. For now, the series seems to be getting a rest following a mixed response to Legion.