What Twisted Metal’s Success Means for Future Video Game Adaptations

•  Twisted Metal on Peacock is a smash hit, becoming one of the streaming service’s most-viewed series and setting a new standard for quality.
•  The show successfully incorporates elements from the original games and introduces a more fleshed-out world, while also delighting fans with Easter eggs and references.
•  Twisted Metal’s success may inspire future video game adaptations, as it demonstrates the importance of understanding and embracing a game’s roots to create an intriguing adaptation.

Instead of being a feature-length epic or gritty reinterpretation, Twisted Metal recognizes the elements that made up the original games and embraces them with open arms. This goes beyond just incorporating characters from the franchise into the series with some stellar costume designs.

Instead, we have a series that introduces the audience to a more fleshed-out world compared to what is offered in the original games. Instead of focusing specifically on the titular car-combat tournament, this first season builds towards it, establishing the franchise’s dark humor and grim setting before giving us the real goods. It was certainly a risk, but most would agree that story developers Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick (Zombieland, Deadpool) successfully pulled it off.