"Secret Level" wanted to adapt more games, but Hollywood copyright was difficult to obtain

When Tim Miller, the creator of the recently launched Amazon animated series "The Secret Level", and Dave Wilson, the director, were asked in an interview with Collider whether there are some games that they cannot obtain IP adaptation rights, they said that Hollywood may be their biggest "rival."

Currently, game adaptations are becoming more and more popular and of higher quality. For example, "The Battle of Two Cities" is the "most expensive animated series in history." However, the adaptation rights of many works have also been snapped up, and even if these companies have obtained the adaptation rights, there has been no progress.

For the Secret Levels team, clearing that hurdle was difficult. Wilson says Hollywood repeatedly blocked some of their ideas. “It’s tricky because we’re not the first ones to realize, ‘These game IPs are great, we should adapt them,’” he says. “So a lot of them have pre-existing deals.”

He explained that since this is a series, it does not hinder what other companies are doing, allowing them to obtain many IPs, but he also said that "some IPs" were originally planned to be produced into an episode, but in the end "it was all Hollywood's fault" so it was not realized.

Two of these works include "Halo" (also produced by Amazon) and "Doom", but failed to reach an agreement with Microsoft. Wilson also revealed that they have contacted Valve to try to make an episode of "Half-Life", but this is still undecided.

Currently, "Secret Level" has been confirmed to be renewed for a second season. This animated series created by the "Love, Death & Robot" team has received a lot of praise. The first season included many well-known games, such as "Unreal Tournament", "Pac-Man", the board game IP "Dungeons & Dragons" and FS's mecha game "Armored Core" - this episode starred Keanu Reeves. Maybe in the second season we will see more familiar games adapted into animations.