The massively popular battle royale video game, Apex Legends, took the world by storm in early 2019. It was released with no prior marketing campaign, and came as a huge surprise. Since then, the free-to-play hero shooter has amassed more than 100 million players, according to The Verge, and has become one of the most popular video games of all time. Players have fallen in love with the stories, the characters, and the world of Apex Legends.
However, not everyone is a gamer. Apex Legends has reached millions, but has not yet reached casual audiences outside the gaming world. Netflix’s Arcane proved that an animated series can appeal to both casual viewers and passionate gamers. The series was critically acclaimed and set a record for highest-rated Netflix series within a week of its release. Apex Legends has all the potential to follow suit and become the next great video game adaptation. Here are the reasons why Apex Legends deserves a proper television adaptation in animation.
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Rich Cast of Characters
Electronic Arts, Respawn Entertainment
When Apex Legends was first released in February 2019, the game launched with an initial eight characters. The game adopted a seasonal model for new content, introducing a new character every few months. As of May 2022, the character roster has expanded to include 20 playable characters who are the titular “Apex Legends.” The Apex Legends are participants in a televised blood sport known as the Apex Games.
Each Legend has their own style, backstory, and unique abilities that set them apart from others. With so many different characters, there is a character for everyone to relate to. The Legends have come from all walks of life, with developer Respawn wanting to make the game as inclusive as possible. This has included many different ethnic backgrounds and LGBTQ+ representation in characters such as Bloodhound, Gibraltar, and Valkyrie.
With so many great characters to choose from, there is a Legend for everyone. Each of them are full of personality with their larger-than-life personas, and it has helped Apex Legends garner a passionate fanbase. Crypto voice actor, Johnny Young, has even compared the Legends to a video game version of the Avengers. That should be a major indicator of the love fans have for the characters, and the potential Apex Legends has as an animated series.
An Amazing Universe
The universe of Apex Legends was established years before the game was released. It was actually launched by another video game called Titanfall in early 2014. The Titanfall games centered on “Pilots” in giant mechs (Titans) as they engaged in battle across the Frontier. When Titanfall received a sequel in the form of Titanfall 2, the games really started tapping into the universe’s storytelling potential. It told stories set in the 28th-century, during a time when humans had colonized space and developed advanced A.I. The Apex Legends universe has even featured time travel and massive alien creatures.
After the death of a far more experienced Pilot, freedom fighter Jack Cooper rose to take his place. Behind the controls of a Titan, Cooper fought as a member of the Frontier Militia against the oppressive IMC (Interstellar Manufacturing Corporation). The IMC was a mega-corporation that exploited the resources of small human colonies, destroying people’s homes in the process. Cooper’s journey was high-stakes, action packed, and epic. It even brought him face-to-face with the creator of the Apex Games, Kuben Blisk.
Recently, Paramount’s live-action Halo series received backlash from fans for making drastic deviations from its source material. An animated Apex Legends television series is at a unique advantage because it can easily honor, connect to, and be part of the same universe as the games. The universe that has been created is very accessible to newcomers, and does not alienate the fans who have been there since the very beginning. In addition, the animated series would more easily allow for the original voice actors to reprise their roles.
Previous Success With Animated Shorts
Despite not having a story-based campaign mode, Apex Legends has been able to drive the story forward with comics, animated cutscenes, and narrative events. But they’ve also produced high-quality animated shorts with Stories from the Outlands. Each animated featurette delved deep into the lore of Apex Legends, and explored what the Legends were like outside of the Apex Games. This allowed for rich character development, allowing Legends to become fully-dimensional human beings rather than being simply defined by their gameplay abilities.
Dr. Mary Somers, otherwise known as “Horizon”, was a brilliant astrophysicist tragically separated from her son, Newton. But when she was betrayed and left stranded in the orbit of a black hole, she faced a great obstacle getting back to him. Horizon’s story was well-told and emotional, even drawing comparisons to Christopher Nolan’s Interstellar. Other Stories from the Outlands included Valkyrie continuing her father’s legacy, Fuse’s unusual friendship with troublemaker Mad Maggie, and Seer overcoming social ostracism to represent the outcasts and those who were different. Revenant was once a man named Kaleb Cross who had a poor relationship with his father. Cross grew up to become a ruthless assassin and after his death, his consciousness was placed in a mechanical body. In his new form, he enjoyed a rivalry with the master thief, Loba, who he had orphaned when Loba was just a child.
There has not yet been a single animated featurette for Apex Legends that has received less than glowing reviews. Every time a new story has been released, fans have asked for a feature-length animated series to be made. The interest has definitely been there and it has never waned. The positive reception of Stories from the Outlands should inspire confidence in Respawn Entertainment as it has already proved the stories work. Apex Legends has become so much more than a video game, so why limit most of the stories to be told in one? Television has always seemed like the obvious next step.
