Battle Chasers, a long-running comic book series by Joe Madureira, has just been acquired by Alcon Television Group. The series will be developed for the small screen by John Wick creator Derek Kolstad, who is set to write and executive produce the live-action adaptation.
This comes after news that the best-selling comic will return with a tenth installment after a 20-year hiatus in publishing. Battle Chasers is set in a punk world and follows a misfit group of heroes — among them a disgraced swordsman, a thief, a wizard, a kindly war machine, and a young girl with a pair of magic gloves left behind by her missing father. Over the course of the story, these unlikely individuals will have to come together to fight off dark forces that threaten their world.
Broderick Johnson and Andrew Kosove, Alcon Entertainment’s Co-Founders and Co-CEOs will serve as Executive Producers, alongside Ben Roberts of Alcon Television Group. Of the project, Roberts stated, "I could not be more excited to bring Battle Chasers to the world in this way, I connected deeply to this material 20 years ago when I first picked up Joe’s comic book and so to be part of bringing this exciting material to a new audience is thrilling to say the least."
Roberts' connection to the comic book is matched by series author Madureira's excitement over the new series project. He stated that "as a huge fan of John Wick, you can imagine my excitement when Adrian and Derek reached out about turning Battle Chasers into a show." He continued, "It’s not something I ever thought could happen, and I’m blown away to have this opportunity with so many talented folks, including Alcon and Zoic, behind it." Everyone involved seems to genuinely love the series, so I know it’s going to be great."
Prime Universe Films’ Adrian Askarieh, producer of the Hitman franchise, and Loni Peristere (Warrior/American Horror Story), and Chris Jones and Samantha Shear of Zoic Pictures are also attached to executive produce. Ben Cook will produce.
Kolstad has a fairly busy slate of projects in the wake of the popular John Wick franchise, which wrapped its fourth installment last month. In addition to co-executive producing The Falcon and the Winter Soldier for Disney+, he is also currently adapting the Ubisoft game Splinter Cell for Netflix and the Hellsing manga as a feature for Amazon.
No release date has been set for the project, which has just been acquired for production, but Madureira seems to be confident in the show's success, saying that "everyone involved seems to genuinely love the series, so I know it’s going to be great."