The Sims franchise is getting a new installment, but it's not an expansion pack or a new fashion kit--it's a film.

The Sims movie is being produced by LuckyChap Entertainment--a production company run by Margot Robbie, Tom Ackerley, Sophia Kerr, and Josie McNamara--which is best known for last summer's bright pink blockbuster, Barbie, and the recently released comedy/thriller, Saltburn. Loki season 1 director Kate Herron is attached to direct, and is co-writing the screenplay with Briony Redman, a writer and comedian best known for 2014's short film, Forget Me Not. Herron and Briony previously teamed up to work on Doctor Who in 2023. The film's scheduled release date has not yet been announced.

At first glance, The Sims may seem like an odd choice for a film. The core gameplay loop revolves around players creating unique characters called Sims, styling their appearance, building their homes, and managing their wants, needs, and relationships with other Sims. The game has no real plot to speak of, as what happens in-game is almost entirely up to the player. But given the success of Barbie, it's likely that Robbie and her fellow LuckyChap producers are up to the task, as The Sims has quite a few parallels to the unstructured way children play with Barbie dolls. In fact, Will Wright--who co-founded Maxis and led development on the first entry in The Sims franchise back in 2000---originally wanted the game to be called "Dollhouse" due to the similarity between the way players interact with their Sims and children interact with their dolls. Wright was inspired to create a "virtual dollhouse" game after losing his home to a firestorm that hit Oakland in 1991 (which might explain why house fires started by inexperienced Sims attempting to make mac and cheese are such a common occurrence in-game).

Due to the sandbox-esque nature of the game, there's no telling what direction the film's plot may take, but it's possible it could involve the franchise's biggest mystery: the disappearance of Bella Goth. The Goths are a pre-made family who first appeared in the original Sims game, and have featured in nearly every entry in the series since. At some point, Bella Goth went missing, and the culprit has never been found, though players have narrowed down the most likely cause to a few theories:

Foul play on the part of Bella's husband, Mortimer, after discovering Bella was cheating on him with her neighbor and fellow pre-made Sim, the notorious womanizer Don Lothario.
Foul play on the part of Don Lothario himself.
Alien abduction.

Amusingly, the alien abduction theory is generally agreed upon as the most likely scenario, and while LuckyChap has yet to release any information regarding the upcoming film's plot, it's likely that some familiar faces--like the Goth family, Freezer Bunny, and the Grim Reaper--will make an appearance in the film.

Here's hoping no ladders go missing from swimming pools during production.