Netflix’s upcoming live-action Assassin’s Creed series, which is already expanding its core cast with stars Toby Wallace (Euphoria) and Laura Petticrew (Say Nothing), and recurring roles from Zachary Hart (Slow Horses) and Laura Marcus (Death by Lightning), has now chosen a director.
Swedish director Johan Lenk, best known for directing the hit HBO miniseries Chernobyl, which won an Emmy Award, will direct the show, Variety has revealed.
Assassin’s Creed, based on the phenomenally successful time-travel video game series, was first announced in July as the first series to be developed under the Netflix and Ubisoft deal signed in 2020.
Plot details are being kept under wraps for now, but according to the logline, the series “centers on a secret war between two shadowy forces, one seeking to determine humanity’s future through control and manipulation, while the other fights to preserve free will. The series follows characters as they navigate pivotal historical events as they fight to shape humanity’s destiny.”
Roberto Patino and David Weiner serve as creators, showrunners, and executive producers. Ubisoft Film & Television’s Gerard Guillemot, Margaret Boykin, Austin Dill and Genevieve Jones will serve as executive producers, with Matt O’Toole also serving as executive producer.
The first Assassin’s Creed game, which explored the centuries-long war between the rival secret orders of the Assassins and the Knights Templar, debuted in 2007 and was an instant hit. Since then, 13 more games have been released in the series, the most recent being Assassin’s Creed: Shadows in 2025, with over 230 million copies sold to date. In 2016, it was made into a movie starring Michael Fassbender.
In addition to “Chernobyl,” Lenk’s television credits include directing the “The Last Panther” series and episodes of “Breaking Bad,” “The Walking Dead,” “Vikings,” “Bates Motel,” and “Halt and Catch Fire.” He has previously worked with Netflix, directing the first two episodes of the 2015 series “Bloodlines” and last year’s sci-fi feature “Spaceman,” starring Adam Sandler, based on the novel “The Bohemian Alien.”
Last year, ahead of Spaceman’s Berlinale world premiere, Renck told Variety that after 2019’s Chernobyl was a critical and commercial hit and won numerous television awards, including an Emmy, Golden Globe and BAFTA, he had “decided to quit” and instead wanted to open a “really fucking cool restaurant” in Brooklyn.
