Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic has jumped back into the public eye thanks to a remake of the classic and beloved game. However, while another BioWare product is getting a television show, one KOTOR writer has made it very clear he doesn't want any kind of big-screen adaptation for this particular franchise.
While a Mass Effect show on Amazon seems to be just the latest video game franchise to be getting an adaptation, it seems unlikely that Knights of the Old Republic is going to get the same kind of treatment anytime soon. One sign that KOTOR won't be getting a strict adaptation is that Lucasfilm actually did give it a thought back in the day but decided against it.
While there has been some talk that one of the upcoming Star Wars films could deal with the Old Republic, it seems as though there won't be a strict following of the KOTOR story and one of its original writers likely thinks that's a good thing. During a recent Reddit AMA, Knights of the Old Republic writer Drew Karpyshyn made it very clear that he doesn't want to see the beloved BioWare franchise get the big screen treatment. Explaining that it's not simply a desire to keep the original story pristine, but that he believes the branching story of the original game is simply too hard to really put on the big screen. There's also the sheer length and breadth of Knight of the Old Republic that he believes a film couldn't do justice to.
Hello, Reddit! I'm Drew Karpyshyn - sci-fi and fantasy author behind Darth Bane, Revan, Mass Effect, and many other books and games. AMA! fromFantasy
Speaking specifically about his concerns, Karpyshyn made it clear he thinks any movie adaptation would have to cut "80 percent of the story to fit it into a film." He did go on to say that if such an adaptation was ever in the works, it might be able to be done the same way Mass Effect is being treated, as a series rather than a flick. However, he cautioned even that probably wouldn't work as well as people would hope.
Despite the writer's objections to any kind of movie adaptation for the famed video game, it seems like there might still be a chance for some sort of film to borrow from the setting of Knights of the Old Republic and KOTOR 2 at least. Of course, at the moment, any chance of that movie getting made is just whispering.
It should also be pointed out that while Karpyshyn has said that he doesn't want to see the Knights of the Old Republic games get adapted to the big screen, he's not as staunchly against it as it might seem at first glance. During the same AMA, he did admit that if they dropped a ton of cash at his door, he could change his tune about a Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic adaptation.
The Star Wars saga is now available on Disney Plus.
Source: Drew Karpyshyn/Reddit