Netflix is developing a live-action PUBG series, with Donald Glover directing and starring

Winner winner, streaming dinner. Netflix is developing a live-action series based on PUBG: Battlegrounds, and Donald Glover is attached to direct and star, Variety and Deadline reported Thursday. PUBG publisher Krafton confirmed the project in a press release, saying planning and production are underway for Netflix.

Who’s involved

• Donald Glover will direct, write, executive produce and star.
• Stephen Glover, his brother and longtime collaborator on Atlanta, will write and executive produce.
• Also executive producing: Michael Schaefer for Neon TV, Fam Udeorji for Gilga, and Taeseok Jang and Sujin Lee for LV3H, Krafton’s entertainment division, which is involved in development and production.

What we don’t know: pretty much everything about the show itself. Variety says plot details are under wraps, and there’s no cast beyond Glover, episode count or release window. As Variety points out, the game doesn’t have a story of its own: it drops a big group of players onto a map to fight until one is left standing.

This isn’t PUBG’s first trip toward the screen. According to Deadline, Krafton announced plans for a PUBG movie and TV series back in 2020, and an animated series from Castlevania executive producer Adi Shankar, announced in 2021, was previously in development at Netflix. Deadline says this new series came together after lengthy negotiations. It joins a Netflix game adaptation slate that already includes a live-action Assassin’s Creed series and a live-action Gears of War film.

PPR take: A battle royale with no built-in story is a strange thing to adapt, which is exactly why handing it to someone like Glover is interesting. I’ll be curious to see what kind of show he makes out of it once there’s more than a press release to go on.