PUBG is headed to Netflix as a live-action series, and Donald Glover is running the whole thing. Krafton and Netflix announced on Thursday, October 29, that a series based on PUBG: Battlegrounds is in development, with Glover set to direct, write, executive produce and star. No release date, plot or other cast has been announced.
Who is making the PUBG series
Krafton’s press release calls Glover a “two-time Emmy and Golden Globe winner” and lists him on four jobs at once. His brother and longtime collaborator Stephen Glover joins as a writer and executive producer. The pair worked together on FX’s Atlanta, which Donald created, starred in and directed.
- Director, writer, executive producer and star: Donald Glover (Atlanta, Community)
- Writer and executive producer: Stephen Glover
- Executive producers: Michael Schaefer for NEON TV, Fam Udeorji for Gilga, and Taeseok Jang and Sujin Lee for LV3H
- Krafton’s role: LV3H, Krafton’s entertainment arm, is involved in developing and producing the series
Deadline reports the project came together “after lengthy negotiations,” with Netflix bringing Glover on board.
What the show is based on
PUBG launched in 2017 as PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds and is widely credited with turning the battle royale into a mainstream genre: 100 players parachute onto an island, scavenge for gear and fight until one squad is left. Krafton says the game holds seven Guinness World Records. It is still a live game today, with a PUBG x IVE collaboration update arriving on PC on November 4 and on console on November 12, according to the official PUBG account.
The catch is that PUBG has no real story. There is no main character, no campaign and no lore to speak of, so whatever Glover makes will be close to an original story set inside the game’s world. Neither Krafton nor Netflix has said anything about the plot.
Not PUBG’s first screen project
Krafton has talked about PUBG on screen for years. Deadline notes that the company announced plans for a PUBG movie and TV series in 2020, and that an animated series from Castlevania executive producer Adi Shankar, announced in 2021, was previously in development at Netflix. Thursday’s announcement does not mention that animated project.
The series also joins a crowded Netflix slate of game adaptations. Deadline lists a live-action Assassin’s Creed series, a live-action Gears of War film and animated shows based on Minecraft, Magic: The Gathering and Clash of Clans, plus an Overcooked competition series. Netflix has been hunting for more game rights all month, including a reported $500 million offer for exclusive Xbox adaptation rights that fell apart, according to Puck.
Our take
This is a strange pairing on paper and a smart one in practice. A battle royale with no story needs someone who can invent one, and Glover has spent a decade making TV that feels unlike anything else on the schedule. The open question is tone: Atlanta could be funny, eerie and tense in the same episode, which might suit a show about strangers dropped onto an island to fight. Do not expect it soon, though. With scripts still to be written and no production date, this is a long wait. For now, the game itself keeps rolling, including the PUBG: DED.NET closed beta from earlier this month.
Featured image: KRAFTON (official PUBG: BATTLEGROUNDS screenshot).
