The Alan Wake TV series from AMC is no longer moving forward, GamesRadar+ can confirm, as Remedy Entertainment partners with Annapurna to develop and produce Control and Alan Wake adaptations for film and television. "We have moved on from AMC amicably as their rights to Alan Wake expired. Annapurna is now leading the charge to take Control and Alan Wake to film, TV, and beyond," Thomas Puha, Remedy's communications director, tells me.
Alan Wake, Control, and Max Payne developer Remedy Entertainment announced that AMC – the company responsible for Breaking Bad, Mad Men, and The Walking Dead – had acquired the rights to develop a series based on the critically acclaimed Alan Wake series back in 2022. There's been precious little news on the project since, outside of word that Jon Jashni and Jeff Ludwig had joined the earliest stages of its development as executive producer and producer, respectively.
"We have moved on from AMC amicably as their rights to Alan Wake expired"
Thomas Puha, Remedy Entertainment
With AMC's claim to Alan Wake's rights expiring, Annapurna has stepped in to help bring Alan Wake beyond video games. Little is know yet, although Remedy creative director Sam Lake said the following in a press release: "I'm absolutely thrilled by this opportunity to expand the story of Alan Wake and our whole Remedy Connected Universe to mediums beyond games, and to build all of this in close collaboration, games, film, TV, and other mediums as well, as one unified vision. I trust Annapurna are the perfect partner for us to make this dream come true." It's understood that Remedy remains in control of the rights to the franchise.
Remedy isn't working with Annapurna to solely bring Alan Wake to other mediums though. The video game developer has also confirmed that Annapurna will be co-financing development of Control 2, allowing Remedy to retain executive control and publishing rights over the highly anticipated sequel – it was originally in development with publisher 505 Games, who helped get the original release out the door back in 2017, although the studio announced that it had acquired the full rights to the Control franchise earlier this year.
Which is all to say that this is an exciting time to be a Remedy fan. While the demise of the Alan Wake AMC series is certainly disappointing, given its pedigree in the drama genre, news of a close collaboration between Remedy and Annapurna is exceptionally promising. Alan Wake 2 landed in October 2023 to critical acclaim, and I know I certainly praised Remedy for the way it was able to blend live action film seamlessly into its core play in my Alan Wake 2 review. What this video game studio could achieve in close partnership with one of the most intrepid production companies of the modern era only ignites the imagination.
This is exciting in part because Alan Wake 2 is easily one of the best Remedy games.
