No one has attempted to bring Catan to the screen since its original launch in 1995, so there’s an argument to be made that Netflix is just making up for lost time. Jinny Howe, Netflix’s head of scripted series for U.S. and Canada, also points out that “anyone who has played Catan knows that the intense strategy at the core of the game has endless opportunities for some serious drama.” To be fair, Deadline didn’t specify that the aforementioned litany of projects would all be set on the fictional island of Catan itself. Maybe one of the series will be a Beef-style drama about best friends who turn into nemeses after a contentious game. All we know at this point is that the streamer is “thrilled to partner across series, features, animation, and games to bring this world to life for hardcore ‘Settlers’ and new fans alike,” as Howe continued.
This is, of course, a big boon for Asmodee, the game’s publisher, as well as game creator Klaus Teuber’s sons, Guido and Benjamin Teuber, who will produce all projects under the deal (along with Asmodee). “When our father Klaus Teuber first introduced Catan thirty years ago, he imagined an aspirational world where people would gather by trading, building and settling together—both at the table and beyond it,” said Guido and Benjamin Teuber in a statement, calling their own big resource trade “an exciting new chapter in that journey.”
At least Netflix doesn’t have to build the game-to-screen blueprint from scratch. Catan joins Arcane, Castlevania, Exploding Kittens, and Asmodee title Family Pack in the steamer’s collection of game-inspired series and films. In the future, it’s also rolling the dice on Clue and Monopoly reality competition series, an Assassin’s Creed series, a Magic: The Gathering animated series, and more. Soon, there won’t be any major game-inspired worlds left to settle.
