Guillermo del Toro has confirmed he tried to adapt BioShock for film, but the talks ended after a pair of calls he described as some of the most disastrous of his career. The BioShock movie never reached production, and he has not named who was on the other end or explained what ended the project, he said in a new IGN interview.
BioShock movie talks ended before production
Asked about adapting games for film, del Toro said he had tried BioShock. He described the conversations this way:
“So adapting it, BioShock, we had a couple of calls. They are probably one of the most disastrous calls I’ve ever had.”
Guillermo del Toro, speaking to IGN
Del Toro did not identify his counterpart, explain the disagreement or say whether he was attached to direct, write or produce the film. His comments confirm early talks, but do not connect him to Netflix’s later adaptation.
His explanation focused on the difference between interactive stories and cinema. Games can give players the sense that they are making their own choices while guiding them through a designed story, he said.
“You have to give the illusion of an infinite sandbox and you lead audiences to the right or to the left through their ‘own decisions,’ but you sort of have to corner them.”
Guillermo del Toro, speaking to IGN
That describes the adaptation problem he sees; it does not reveal what went wrong in those calls. He also discussed Insane, a planned trilogy of dark games that never reached release. Del Toro said the team was aiming high and that he later saw ideas from the project appear in other games. He has previously been associated with game projects including P.T. and Death Stranding, but told IGN he was not keen to make another game himself.
BioShock movie plans have stalled before
This was not the first attempt to take BioShock to the screen. Universal halted Gore Verbinski’s film during pre-production in 2009 as the studio and director looked for ways to reduce costs. Variety reported that the budget had reached about $160 million, with shooting in London among the options under discussion. That version did not reach production.
BioShock 4 has run into its own development problems: Take-Two’s chief executive discussed the delays in May, as tbreak reported at the time.
Netflix announced a separate live-action adaptation in August 2022, naming Francis Lawrence as director and Michael Green as screenwriter. The streamer said it was partnering with 2K and Take-Two Interactive; its announcement also said the franchise had sold more than 39 million copies worldwide at that point.
By July 2024, producer Roy Lee said the Netflix film was being reworked with a reduced budget into a “more personal” project, Variety reported. Lawrence remained attached to direct. A September 2025 report from GamesIndustry.biz, citing Lee, said the script was still being developed and would draw on the first BioShock game. That report did not give a release date or announce a cast.
Del Toro’s account concerns an earlier set of talks. He did not say that he was involved in Netflix’s version, and his comments do not amount to a new update on that film. The latest project-status note that could verify is the 2025 script update.
How many games did Netflix list in its BioShock announcement?
Netflix’s 2022 announcement named BioShock, BioShock 2 and BioShock Infinite as the franchise’s three games.
Where is the original BioShock set?
It takes place in Rapture, an underwater city founded as a utopia that descends into chaos, as Variety described.
