Amazon is preparing a second series for Warhammer 40,000: Deathwatch is coming to screen
Amazon's Warhammer 40,000 plans won't be limited to just one live-action series. The company is developing a separate animated series set in the same universe, simultaneously with the project that Henry Cavill is attached to as lead actor and executive producer.
According to Variety and Deadline, the new production will be an extension of the Warhammer 40,000 episode featured in Prime Video's video game anthology Secret Level. The number of episodes, release date, and voice cast for the project have not yet been announced.
Secret Level is not just a one-off experiment
The episode titled “And They Shall Know No Fear,” released in 2024, followed Lieutenant Titus and a squad of Ultramarines after Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2.
The episode was prepared by Blur Studios and director Dave Wilson, who will now carry the same visual approach into a long-form story. Wilson noted that Secret Level was not designed solely as an anthology of independent short stories, but rather as a starting point for larger productions.
Despite this, the new series has not been described as a direct continuation of the Titus story. While the Secret Level episode centered on Ultramarines, the focus of the new project will be on Deathwatch, which brings together warriors from different Space Marine factions.
Deathwatch will hunt aliens
Deathwatch consists of experienced warriors selected from various Space Marine communities in the Warhammer 40,000 universe. The unit is specifically tasked with tracking, studying, and exterminating inhuman alien species.
The enemies of the story and the time period are being kept under wraps. The only plot detail currently revealed is that the Deathwatch team will be hunting alien threats. This choice allows the animated series to establish a mission-based structure that can utilize many planets and different creature communities within the universe.
Band of Brothers writer in the creative team
Dave Wilson, who directed the Warhammer episode of Secret Level, will be the co-creator and director of the new series. He will be joined by John Orloff, who worked on Band of Brothers and Masters of the Air.
Tim Miller, the creator of Secret Level, will serve as an executive producer alongside Wilson on behalf of Blur Studios. In addition to Henry Cavill and Natalie Viscuso, Roy Lee from Vertigo Entertainment and Andy Smillie from Games Workshop are also part of the production team.
It has not yet been announced whether Cavill will voice a character in the series. At this stage, his confirmed role is as an executive producer; the project he is attached to as an actor is a separately developed live-action adaptation.
Amazon is no longer just preparing a single Warhammer series
Games Workshop had granted Amazon extensive rights to develop film and television productions in the Warhammer 40,000 universe. The agreement was structured to allow for multiple films and television projects, not just a single series from day one.
The development of the animated series alongside the live-action project marks the first tangible expansion of this agreement. Amazon is now adapting the same intellectual property into different formats: the live-action production, to which Cavill is also attached as an actor, is progressing on one side, while the Deathwatch animation, which grows out of Secret Level, is moving forward on the other.
It is unclear whether the stories of the two projects will intersect or if they will exist within the same continuity. Therefore, it is more accurate to speak of parallel productions that utilize the same Warhammer 40,000 world from different angles rather than a Marvel-like connected universe for now.
The first major project could be the animated series
The live-action Warhammer 40,000 project is still in development and no shooting date has been announced. However, it appears that the animated series has already retained the studio, director, and creative foundation that prepared the Secret Level episode.
This suggests that the Deathwatch series could be presented to audiences sooner; however, since Amazon has not shared a release schedule for either project, this is merely an inference based on the current state of preparations.
What is certain is that the approximately 15-minute Warhammer episode in Secret Level will no longer remain an independent experiment. Amazon will transform the world established by that episode into a long-term animated production while simultaneously continuing to develop the live-action side.
