Henry Cavill has made no secret of his obsession with Warhammer 40,000. The former Superman has gone from painting Adeptus Custodes in his spare time to leading Amazon’s ambitious attempt at adapting the beloved, sprawling tabletop universe for the screen. But while Cavill might be charging ahead with his dream project, there’s one piece of lore that just hit the brakes — and it may hint at a behind-the-scenes snag that could affect the entire cinematic universe. And it’s all thanks to a Facebook post, as IGN reported.
Celebrated Warhammer 40,000 author Dan Abnett — the man behind Eisenhorn, Gaunt’s Ghosts, and key entries in The Horus Heresy — recently posted a friendly promo for an appearance at Broadside Games Show. Pretty standard stuff… until he casually dropped a bombshell about his long-delayed novel Pandaemonium, the third and final book in the Bequin series.
“For those who don’t know, it is not MY decision when Pandaemonium gets finished and published,” Abnett wrote. “For reasons an NDA prevents me from discussing, Bequin 3 — and some other things — are held up for a while.”
In the grim darkness of the far future, there is only war — and, apparently, corporate gag orders. Naturally, the fandom went into immediate meltdown, especially when you factor in a Reddit post from March that gives the NDA context. According to redditor Zigoia, who spoke with Abnett at a signing, the delay is “because of the potential lore impact” of the book. Games Workshop allegedly wants to finalize the lore for the Amazon series before greenlighting a novel that could contradict it. If true, that would make Pandaemonium the collateral damage of Cavill’s incoming live-action adaptation.
Henry Cavill Believes ‘Warhammer’ Will Be “Tricky”
It’s worth noting: Cavill has been refreshingly transparent about the difficulty of adapting such a rich and complex IP. In a recent Esquire interview (yes, while promoting his luxury watch campaign with Longines — somehow still on brand for a Warhammer fan), Cavill admitted:
“It is a tricky IP, and a very complex IP. And that’s what I love about it. The challenges that come with putting this on the page in a way that is doing justice to that complexity, that trickiness, and that nuance, is a challenge I’m enjoying enormously.”
Cavill, who’s not just starring in the project but also executive producing it, has spent over a year with Games Workshop “sifting through old texts” to find the right entry point. Could Eisenhorn — the inquisitor-centric saga written by Abnett himself — be the story they’ve landed on? If so, it would explain why Pandaemonium is under legal lock and key. The book’s predecessor, Penitent, ended with a massive lore twist. The third book could rewrite a huge chunk of canon — which Amazon and Cavill may now be adapting for the screen.
The Warhammer 40,000 series starring Henry Cavill has no release date yet.
Source: IGN