Updates on the Netflix BioShock adaptation have been few and far between, but the director is still hoping it gets made. Francis Lawrence, who is directing the new Hunger Games movie, recently gave GamesRadar+ some news on the long-awaited film.
"We're still working on a script and I think we're pretty close, and I'm feeling really good about it," he told us during press for Sunrise on the Reaping. "Yeah, I would love to make it. I've been like dying to. I've been working at it. I've been trying."
A live-action BioShock movie was first announced by Netflix back in 2022 and it's been in development since. Lawrence was attached but then delays caused by Hollywood strikes and Lawrence's work on The Hunger Games movie have meant there's not been much movement on it for a while.
In 2025, it was announced that the story was being reworked for a smaller budget. Speaking to Variety, producer Roy Lee called it a "more personal point of view" project rather than a grander adaptation. Elsewhere, Lee told The Direct that it will be based on the first game, but everything beyond that is being kept under wraps by Netflix and the game's producers 2K and Take-Two Interactive.
Released back in 2007, the first person shooter game takes place in an underwater city called Rapture. It collapsed into a dystopian war-ravaged society after the discovery of ADAM, which is a genetic material that can grant superhuman abilities. The game follows Jack as he crash lands in the Atlantic Ocean and finds a hidden entrance into the world beneath the waves.
Lawrence is currently busy with The Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping, which tells the story of Haymitch Abernathy's games. Speaking to GamesRadar+, the director called it a "return to form" for the franchise with a fair few surprises along the way.
The movie hits theaters on November 20, 2026. For more upcoming movies, here are our guides to upcoming video game adaptations and upcoming superhero movies.
