Thomas Hayden Church is set to star as the main villain in NBC Peacock’s upcoming television adaptation of the cult video game “Twisted Metal,” written by the team behind Deadpool and directed by Cobra Kai showrunner Michael Jonathan Smith.
Church is no stranger to villainy with his role as Sandman in Spiderman 3 and Spider Man: No Way Home, so his turn as Agent Stone in “Twisted Metal” should be a treat.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, Agent Stone is described as “a cold, unyielding post-apocalyptic highway patrolman who rules the highways with a silver tongue and a twisted iron fist, pursuing even the smallest crimes with the most judgments. Agent Stone will stop at nothing to bring law and order to the divided states of America, and will kill anyone in his path who challenges his power.
All we can say is “Yes, please”.
Church will be joined by Stephanie Beatriz and Anthony Mackie. Beatriz will play Quiet, a “ferocious, badass car thief who acts solely on instinct” while Mackie will play John Doe, “a smart, mouth-driving milkman who talks as fast as he drives, dealing with vehicles of savage destruction as he delivers much-needed supplies from one post-apocalyptic colony to another.”
The show will be written by Deadpool alums Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick, and Kitao Sakurai is set to direct several episodes of the 30-minute action comedy.
Analysis: Can video game adaptations work?
Video game adaptations have a very checkered history, with few finding an audience. For every Resident Evil, there are a dozen Uwe Boll flops or a Super Mario Bros.
But it’s not like video games aren’t capable of producing interesting stories. The Last of Us is getting a major TV adaptation, and that game should have won an Oscar as far as we’re concerned. Twisted Metal is also a cult property that might work in ways that other titles might not.
Whether it will take off remains to be seen, but we have great faith in Thomas Hayden Church to help Twisted Metal find its wings.