Season Review: Splinter Cell: Deathwatch Season One

Deathwatch is not a reboot, but is canon to the events of the main Splinter Cell video game series. It picks up years after the last main game, Blacklist, focusing on an older, retired Sam Fisher ala John Wick or Logan. 

The story begins with Sam living a secluded life—reportedly as a farmer in Poland—before he’s pulled back into action when a wounded, young Splinter Cell agent seeks his help. The series then explores themes of modern espionage, hybrid warfare, and the nature of “analog” soldiers in a digital world, all revolving around a global conspiracy tied to a green tech company named Xanadu.

The series boasts a high-profile creative team, signaling a major push for this adaptation including Lead Writer/Executive Producer: Derek Kolstad, the creator of the John Wick franchise, is steering the narrative.

Liev Schreiber (Ray Donovan) takes over the voice role of Sam Fisher, offering a commanding and world-weary presence. Janet Varney reprises the role of Anna “Grim” Grímsdóttir, Sam’s longtime Fourth Echelon technical operations officer. Kirby Howell-Baptiste voices a new recruit, Zinnia McKenna. The series also features a distinctive 2D-3D adult animation style, with production handled by European studios Sun Creature and Fost, showcasing cinematic action sequences that go beyond the constraints of live-action.

Deathwatch is set to weave in elements familiar to long-time fans of the franchise, including the return of Grim and the unmistakable sound effect of Sam’s iconic tri-lens night-vision goggles. The main conspiracy driving the plot is connected to the late Douglas Shetland, a former ally-turned-nemesis from the classic game Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory. His children, Diana and Charlie Shetland, now control his former company, Displace International, which has been retooled into a global green energy firm that hides a much darker agenda.

The eight-episode, half-hour series is positioned as a major entry in Netflix’s growing lineup of animated video game adaptations, following the critical success of titles like Arcane and Cyberpunk: Edgerunners but I got to be honest, Arcane I always felt was like a French-take on an anime pastiche but with a bigger budget where as this series should serve better fans of Cyberpunk: Edgerunners in every conceivable way, possibly even surpassing it in the stellar direction brought forth by Guillaume Dousse who serves as director, with Félicien Colmet-Daage as co-director. 

For years videogame animated adaptations had a nasty name and Devil May Cry didn’t help me in dissuading that opinion but wraps a headlock around that thought process and puts it to sleep in what might be the best animated drama of the year.