Far Cry TV series ups the ante with Brendan Gleeson, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Hamish Linklater
FX's upcoming Far Cry series has beefed up its cast with a clutch of heavyweights — the kind of names that'll make you do a double take.
Right, so FX is having another go at turning video games into television with a Far Cry series, and honestly, the cast they're pulling together is far better than I ever would have predicted for a show based on running round jungles and blowing things up. If you expected B-list guest stars, well, FX is not listening.
Who's In?
The big news is that Brendan Gleeson (thatʼs your Spider-Noir from the animated Spider-Verse films, if you somehow missed his entire career), Jennifer Jason Leigh (The Hateful Eight), Hamish Linklater (Midnight Mass), Sam Spruell (A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms), and Jamie Demetriou (Only Murders in the Building) have all come onboard for the carnage.
They join the previously announced trio: Rob Mac (It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia — yes, Dennis himself), Lizzy Caplan (Zero Day), and Steve Buscemi (Wild Horse Nine). Itʼs a proper stacked line-up for a game adaptation. No word yet on exactly which flavour of villainous megalomaniac, scruffy survivor, or hapless tourist theyʼll be playing, but given the franchise, chances are everyone gets to shoot at something before the credits roll.
What's the Format?
This oneʼs a bit of an unusual take, since — a bit like the Far Cry games themselves — the series will run as an anthology. So, every season changes up the entire cast, switches the setting, and gives us a completely new flavour of chaos. That way, if your favourite actor gets killed off (or exploded), thereʼs always a fresh batch of survivors next time around. Thereʼs no proper plot scoop yet, but expect it to follow the tone of the games: dramatic, violent, occasionally bonkers, with a healthy disregard for subtlety.
Rob Mac put it like this in the official press release: “Getting to work alongside Noah Hawley is a dream realized. Ubisoft has been remarkably generous, entrusting us with one of the most iconic video-game worlds ever created. And through it all, my FX family continues to lift me up with their constant belief and support.”
Rob Mac isnʼt just co-creating — heʼll star in season one too, working alongside Noah Hawley (the Fargo showrunner with a genuine knack for the odd and violent).
As for why Hawley wanted on board, hereʼs what he likes about the whole setup:
“What I love about the Far Cry game franchise is it’s an anthology. Each game is a variation of a theme, the same way each season of Fargo is a variation on a theme. To create a big action show that can change from year to year, while always exploring the nature of humanity through this complex and chaotic lens is a dream come true. I’m excited to partner with Rob and bring our shared irreverent, ambitious sensibility to the screen.”
The Games (and That Film…)
The Far Cry franchise started as a technical showpiece from Crytek, using their shiny new CryEngine, and got a full release in March 2004 courtesy of Ubisoft. After that, Ubisoft took complete control and basically ran with the formula: player lands in a hazardous open-world, finds themselves under the thumb of extremely unfriendly gun-toting types, and is left to make as much mess as possible in beautiful, remote locations. Over the years we've seen tropical islands, African hinterlands, Himalayan peaks, and even Montana of all places. If you fancy whacking someone round the head with a club while riding a mammoth, give Far Cry Primal a spin — still my personal highlight of the entire series.
Donʼt mention the Uwe Boll film. Actually, do, since nothing else could make this show look bad by comparison. Boll's 2008 adaptation bore the Far Cry name and little else, famously disastrous and best left to the depths of streaming infamy.
The original Far Cry video game launched in March 2004 and grew into one of Ubisoft's most successful ongoing franchises.