Assassin's Creed Movie Producers Have Plans for Two Sequels

This December's video game movie Assassin's Creed may be just the first in a trilogy. IGN reports that star Michael Fassbender, who is also a producer on the picture, revealed that work has already started on a sequel. Additionally, he said the team has an idea for what it might do with a third movie.

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Producer Pat Crowley added: "It's not a one-off. Everybody expects that this movie will continue."

In March this year, it was reported that not only would Fassbender return to star in and produce Assassin's Creed 2, but a number of other key production partners will come back. It remains to be seen if director Justin Kurzel would return for a sequel, if it were to happen.

Whether or not 20th Century Fox moves forward with two sequels will likely be determined by the box office performance of the first Assassin's Creed in December. It opens on December 21, just a week after the first Star Wars spinoff, Rogue One.

Also in the interview, Crowley explained why Assassin's Creed does not use any established characters from the games as other video game films have done.

"We essentially did them all on our own because we wanted to have an original script," he said. "It's a movie that's based on the game, but it's not a movie that is the game."

Director Kurzel added that characters from the various Assassin's Creed games have already had their stories told. He wanted to do something new.

"It was about trying to inject a new character who can have some sort of relationship with the game perhaps in the future," he said. "It was essentially about finding a character that was fresh. It's an origin story too. It's about a man that doesn’t realize he's an Assassin in the present day and discovers that and discovers skills and discovers an identity and discovers that he's part of a tribe. That became the real focus that we concentrated on. We needed, especially in the present day, a character that enabled us to do that."

Assassin's Creed tells a new story but it of course is inspired by the games. Fans may be happy to know that Crowley and Kurzel spent time with Ubisoft to learn all about the "Assassin's Creed rules," including details around accessing ancestor's memories. Additionally, Ubisoft representatives visited the set to sign off on elements of the film.

The movie will also include references to the games, as the guillotine gun from Assassin's Creed Unity and items from Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood, Assassin's Creed III: Liberation, and Assassin's Creed Chronicles: China will also show up in the background of some scenes.

Unlike the games, however, the bulk of the action in Assassin's Creed takes place in the present day, while the 15th Century Spain sequences make up only 35 percent of the film. It remains to be seen what other historical eras the two sequels might go to or if the present/past ratio would stay the same.

The Assassin's Creed games and movie make use of the fictional Animus technology that allows a person to access their ancestor's memories, transporting them back in time. As such, there are countless possibilities for where the game and film franchises could go next.

For more, you can read the full IGN story and check out GameSpot's interview feature with Fassbender. A new poster has also been released; check it out below.

Assassin's Creed also stars Oscar-winner Marion Cotillard, Jeremy Irons, Brendan Gleeson, and Michael Kenneth Williams.

There is no new mainline Assassin's Creed game coming this year, which may benefit the movie. Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot explained earlier this year that no new game gives the movie's marketing team more space and opportunity to promote the film.