The Life Is Strange TV adaptation is still happening, now with Shawn Mendes doing the music
The teen drama/time travel story is going to become a TV show, even if a video game seemed like the best medium for it
TV News Shawn Mendes
Allll the way back in 2016 (pre-election, if that helps you narrow down what you were doing at the time), we reported that Legendary Pictures was working on an adaptation of Dontnod’s hit adventure game Life Is Strange. We didn’t know much at the time, other than having the powerful notion that any kind of non-video game adaptation of a video game where the choices you make have an impact on how the story unfolds is questionable, but now that Life Is Strange adaptation is actually moving forward… and a famous musical artist is helping it happen.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, the Life Is Strange adaptation is now going to be a TV series, and Shawn Mendes (of “There’s Nothing Holding Me Back” fame) is working with Andrew Gertler at their Permanent Content label to “oversee music for the series.” Production company Anonymous Content is also involved now, which could be a good sign since it has experience with genre stuff and teen dramas (and teen drama genre stuff), having worked on 13 Reasons Why, The OA, The Alienist, Dickinson, and Mr. Robot.
No matter who’s making it, though, it is worth noting—once again—that not every video game with a good story needs to be adapted into a different medium. Sometimes a video game really is the best way to tell a story! They can do things that movies and TV shows can’t do! Anyway, Life Is Strange (the original one, at least, since there have been a few since) is about a high schooler named Max Caulfield who realizes she can rewind time, which she uses to save her friend and solve the mysterious disappearance of another student at her school. Seems like an interesting gameplay concept, right? Well, imagine a version of that story where Shawn Mendes and some writer decided when and how to use that power. Not bad, necessarily, but… questionable.
14 Comments
I don’t even want to think about the hundred ways this could go wrong. I just hope they fix that botched mess of an ending.
I loved the original game, so this news makes me want to rewind time and prevent this adaptation from happening.
A big part of the original Life is Strange is how you have to hold onto moments, and how we all wish to rewind time and fix mistakes, and the gameplay mechanic of being able to change time (in big and small ways) is crucial to this theme.So this sounds like it would make perfect sense translated into a linear, non-interactive medium.Also…Shawn Mendes? Really??
Also, presumably the adaptation would have to come down on a side in regard to whether the collateral damage of manipulating time is worth the benefits, and as nearly every player of the game seems to have a strong opinion on which answer is the “right” one, no matter which side the show chooses, it will alienate a large fraction of its audience.
A stranger berated me on Steam because of my choices in this game. The show might avoid his wrath if it was made like Black Mirror’s Bandersnatch episode.
This is actually a pretty good point, even if I disagree somewhat on the alieanatin, partially because that division reflects on what the game did right. At first I thought that it wouldn’t be that big of an issue for the show as then the watcher won’t make those narrative choices, so it won’t be affected as much by what the choice there is.Howeer, where the game succeeded was making that choice in the end mean something. So if the show wants to be as successful, then it has to create that same emotional connection, which could create dissatisfaction regardless what path they go on. Yet at the same time I do want them to take that head on instead of trying to find some bland way to satisfy everyone like the comic attempted.
IIRC the Life is Strange soundtrack has a lot of indie rock on it, so Shawn Mendes definitely seems like a very weird choice.
And I’m still unreasonably disappointed that Shawn Mendes is a male Shawn when I initially assumed it was a Shawn Colvin situation.
I’m so torn by this news. I absolutely loved Life Is Strange and do think the story can be told in a show format as well. It will just require some different focus on the narrative and expanding more of Max working through her power. Additionally the game had a pretty good supporting cast, so the show format would also be able to lean on that to strengthen itself.What I worry, though, is that if the show has the courage to be as gutsy with the final choice as the game was. I know it caused division, but that was because it accepted that you can’t have everything and thus made it a defining choice to reflect what was Max’s arc through all those events. I worry that the show will try to find some soft ground in the middle that will just make those final moments lose that strength. The fact that the comic did something like this causes me to worry more.
I don’t think the show will be good enough to even make this a discussion.
Fascinating creative choice to pivot from the series’ pointed use of music and a sometimes-tacky-but-mostly-great soundtrack to just having bad songs.
Yeah, I actually listen to the game’s soundtrack fairly often — I don’t see why you’d want to throw it away for the show.
This is going to fucking suck.
“No matter who’s making it, though, it is worth noting—once again—that not every video game with a good story needs to be adapted into a different medium.”
And it’s also worth noting- once again -that judging something before you’ve seen it is bullshit.