Disco Elysium might be getting a TV show, of all things

Well, betcha you didn't expect to read that headline today any more than I expected to write it. Dark 70s detective RPG Disco Elysium is being spun off into a TV show, assuming that the production company partnering with ZA/UM studio are successful in assembling a team of writers and pitching it. Seriously, who'd have thunk it?

According to a report by Variety, ZA/UM have partnered with production company Dj2 Entertainment. "We’re so gratified at the response Disco Elysium has received, and very happy to be teaming with Dj2 to expand the franchise for other media and new audiences," ZA/UM's lead writer Helen Hindpere tells Variety.

"No writer is currently attached, nor is a network or streaming service," says Variety's report. "Dj2 is now meeting writers in anticipation of pitching the property later this year." Safe to say it's a while off then, I gather.

"Disco Elysium is a phenomenal property with an expansive world and unlimited potential," says Dj2 CEO Dmitri M. Johnson, who has also been involved with that recent Sonic The Hedgehog movie. Dj2 are also currently producing live-action adaptations of Sleeping Dogs and Echo. Wait, this Echo? Alright.

I am brimming with questions on what the heck a Disco Elysium TV show will be like. Not least of which is how its personality will translate to the small screen. A large chunk of Disco's charm is its relentless inner dialogue constantly speaking to Harry the screw-up detective in his head. Would a TV adaptation include tons of Harry's internal monologue?

Heck, does the show even involve Harry Du Bois and my absolute favorite person Lt. Kim Kitsuragi? Or will the show just occupy the same universe? The announcement doesn't say, so your guess is as good as mine.

Disco Elysium is quite good. It's one of RPS's best RPGs on PC and Alice Bee calls it "a great, bleak rumination on the failings of humanity on a macro and micro level" in her Disco Elysium review, despite some of the flaws in the masterpiece. Personally I flew through the thing in a matter of about four days when it launched, emerging from a disco-colored fog only after I'd rolled the credits. Yeah, I also liked it.

All that's to say I'll not insinuate that Disco doesn't deserve some spinoff action. I'm just a bit wary of how it'll emerge on TV. Granted I said the same thing about yon Witcher TV show and ended up enjoying it so I suppose I'll just shut my mistrusting yap until there are some details.