Final Fantasy XIV is getting a live-action TV series from Sony Pictures Television, Square Enix, and Hivemind (the studio behind the upcoming The Witcher TV series and The Expanse).
IGN recently interviewed Dinesh Shamdasani, one of the founders of Hivemind, at New York Comic-Con to talk about the Final Fantasy XIV live-action adaptation. Shamdasani is also known as the longtime Chief Creative Officer and CEO of Valiant Entertainment.
He explained why they chose to adapt Final Fantasy XIV instead of another Final Fantasy title. "It was a hard choice," Shamdasani said. "VII was definitely up there. Ultimately XIV was the one that we thought, 'Actually everything we want to do is here'."
Hivemind sees the opportunity to develop the TV adaptation in conjunction with the ongoing MMORPG.
"Our hope is that we build something cool that goes for a long time. Final Fantasy XIV is, by virtue of its format, able to continue to expand itself, add itself in there. Hopefully it can be some cross-pollination where they can say, 'This is a new expansion,' and we say, 'Great, we're going to lean into that in the new season' or 'we're going to lead to this [in the] new season,' and they say, 'Great, we're going to do an expansion that includes those elements,' and it can feel more [of] a piece, which is rare."
Shamdasani also said that Netflix "asked consistently about" the live-action Final Fantasy series but Hivemind hasn't chosen a streaming platform or specific network yet.
Final Fantasy fans would be delighted to know that the series will feature a lot of chocobos, the yellow bird companions that characters can usually ride in the game.
Literally, there was no draft of the script that does not have the note, 'More chocobos'. One of the notes that I gave, I gave this note and I got the worst stink eye in a meeting. I said, 'Guys, I know everyone wants chocobos. Page 3 someone rides in on a chocobo for no reason. It's distracting. It's silly. It's too early.' And everyone's like, 'What are you talking about? Everyone should be riding on chocobos in the opening'... So no, there'll be chocobos out the wazoo.
The live-action series hasn't entered production yet so it will probably take more than a year before we get to see the show.
Final Fantasy XIV is now available on PS4, Xbox One, and PC. The MMORPG is getting patch 5.1 on October 29, and the update will include new content and features, including the YoRHa: Dark Apocalypse raid crossover with Yoko Taro's NieR: Automata.
Related: New Final Fantasy VIII Featurette Shows A Behind-the-Scenes Look at The Game's Development
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