Doug Liman Talks 'Splinter Cell' Development

Doug Liman came on board Ubisoft's film production efforts when he signed to direct Splinter Cell earlier this year. Actor Tom Hardy is set to star in the film as black ops agent Sam Fisher, and is producing the film as well. Obviously, while Michael Ironside voiced most game incarnations of the character, Ubi is going a bit younger for the screen incarnation.

That has led to questions. Will this be the same character, seen prior to many of the in-game adventures, effectively making this a prequel story? Or is it a simple situation in which details necessarily change as part of the adaptation process? Liman hasn't talked much about the adaptation, but in a new interview does say that everything about the big-screen Splinter Cell "will be younger."

IGN spoke to Liman while he was promoting his new film Edge of Tomorrow, and he spoke about casting a younger actor as Fisher and developing a new take on the story with screenwriter Sheldon Turner:

I think everything about Splinter Cell will be younger. It's a chance to come up with a new franchise that's fresher, newer, younger. And Tom Hardy is such an incredible actor.

And, as one might expect, the film will bring along some of the expected game elements, such as Fisher's night-vision goggles, but might not use them just as the game does:

Some of the tropes of the game will for sure be in the film. But also the fun of that is when you lose them, you know, just strip that stuff away and really make the character sort of have to operate without it.

Here's the video interview:

Assuming things stay on track, Splinter Cell will be in theaters in 2015.