After helping get adaptations for Castlevania, Devil May Cry, and Far Cry onto Netflix, Adi Shankar has now set his sights on Duke Nukem.
The well-known showrunner-executive producer recently told Esquire Magazine he bought the rights to the shooter franchise. He probably won’t get to it for a while—he’s got a second season of Devil May Cry to work on, plus adaptations for Assassin’s Creed, PUBG, Hyper Light Drifter, and who knows what else—but he’s already got an idea for what the potential series will be.
“It’s a middle finger to everybody,” he said. “When Duke blew up, a bunch of people sat around trying to turn it into a brand. It can’t be made by a corporation, because the moment a corporation makes Duke Nukem, it’s no longer Duke Nukem. I don’t intend on having anyone tell me what to do on this one.”
The original Duke Nukem was a 2D platformer released in 1991 from Apogee Software and 3D Realms. Later installments transitioned to first and third-person shooters, but each game puts Duke in fights against aliens or the military. Its last installment was 2011’s Duke Nukem Forever, which came out after Borderlands creator Gearbox (which now owns the franchise) took over development duties with Triptych Games and Pirahna Games, and opened to pretty lousy reviews. The franchise hasn’t been seen since, but over the years, there’s been suggestions of a film adaptation, and the Cobra Kai creators are attached as of 2022.
Who knows if Shankar’s show means a Duke Nukem game is on the horizon, since Gearbox is currently on Borderlands 4 duty and his other adaptations haven’t yet yielded new games for their respective source materials. But if the show ends up happening, it’ll certainly be worth talking about, for better and worse.
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