It has been 11 years since Splinter Cell: Blacklist was released, and sadly, there has been no major Splinter Cell release ever since. There have been rumors of new entries and remakes, but nothing official. Only four years ago, Netflix announced they were developing a Splinter Cell anime with John Wick writer Derek Kolstad. At Geeked Week 2024, we finally have a title, Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell: Deathwatch, and a first-look teaser.

Let’s rewind. We have to go back to July 2020, when Netflix first unveiled that it would be bringing Tom Clancy’s famous character to life through a series adaptation. 

In June 2021, as part of Netflix’s Geeked Week, we first saw how the animation for Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell: Deathwatch was coming along, with the first look at Sam Fisher sporting his iconic night vision goggles and a blood-soaked coat.

Between that time and now into 2024, updates have been few and far between, albeit there was plenty of evidence the show remained in full production. It was in 2021, and some animation workers started as late as December 2023 or even April 2024. For example, a job listing for a light and shadow supervisor mentioned December 2023 as a start date and the job lasting 12 months. Another supervisor began their work only in April 2024.

Why the slow updates? A member of the animation team commented in April 2024:

“I can’t reveal much more but I can indeed confirm it is gonna be released, it’s currently in production… It was announced way too early by Netflix compared to when it actually started. We are hard at work on it.”

But finally, in September 2024, during Netflix’s Geeked Week livestream, we received our first look in the form of a teaser and confirmation that the series title is officially Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell: Deathwatch.

Who is voicing Sam Fisher?

Well, it’s official: Liev Schreiber (X-Men: Origins) is voicing Sam Fisher in Netflix’s Splinter Cell: Deathwatch, replacing the iconic voice of Michael Ironside. Ironside himself let it slip in an interview a few months back that Liev Schreiber would be voicing Fisher, but it was never officially confirmed until now, and even then, it didn’t sound like Ironside was entirely sure.

Of course, this isn’t the first time Sam Fisher isn’t voiced by Michael Ironside. 11 years ago, Splinter Cell: Blacklist was released with Eric Johnson lending his voice to Fisher due to Ironside being unable to return to the role since he was battling cancer.

It isn’t clear why Netflix didn’t approach Michael Ironside to reprise his role as Sam Fisher since he’s now cancer-free and healthy.

The remainder of the voice cast is a complete mystery for now.

Who is working on Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell: Deathwatch?

The writer and showrunner for Netflix’s Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell: Deathwatch is Derek Kolstad, known for creating the massive hit franchise John Wick that stars Keanu Reeves. He expressed his excitement for working on Splinter Cell in an interview with Collider in March 2021:

“Animation is fucking cool, dude. You send in a script and they make it. It isn’t a matter of casting this, this, this, or that. It’s like, ‘What do you want to do, Derek?’ ‘I think this would be cool.’ ‘That would be cool!’ We start it.”

Writing alongside Kolstad will be David Daitch and Katie J. Stone. The writing duo has worked on a number of projects together including the likes of Shooter for USA Network and the upcoming FOX series Interceptor. The rest of the writers team includes Naomi G. Davis (Torn & Frayed), Fallon O’Dowd (NCIS: Hawaii), Anthony Florez (Dark Winds) and Joseph Mwamba. Guillaume Dousse (Love, Death & Robots) is directing with co-director Félicien Colmet-Daage.

Executive producers on the project include Kolstad, Helene Juguet, Hugo Revon, and Gerard Guillemot for Ubisoft Film & Television.

Sun Creature and Fost Animation Studio are the two animation studios working on the show. The latter of which is in charge of all production from backgrounds to pre-compositing, lists the following as also working on the series:

“Line backgrounds supervisor – Benjamin Loirat
Color backgrounds supervisor – Georges Bouchelaghem
Layout posing supervisors – Alix Arrault, Tracy Nowocien
Animation supervisors – Nicolas Capitaine, Gaëlle Thierry
Clean-up supervisor – Lesceline Haase”

They also state they’re using a Hand-Drawn 2D technique for the series using ToonBoom Harmony.

What is the plot of Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell: Deathwatch? 

Currently, nothing is known about the plot of either season of Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell: Deathwatch, but Derek Kolstad has commented that each season’s story will be self-contained:

“Every season is going to be self-contained, outside of the evolution of the main character. I like having one big, bad, one overarching story and one background story, with the A/B of it all, and yet, I look at everything I do — well, almost everything — especially in film and TV, as the best Westerns. He rides off into the sunset because he’s going to do the same fucking thing the next town over until he dies doing it.”

How many seasons will Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell: Deathwatch have?

Netflix has long been known for ordering 16 episodes of Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell: Deathwatch. These 16 episodes will be split into two seasons, with eight episodes each. Each episode will be 20-30 minutes long, a standard for Netflix animation.

When will Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell: Deathwatch be released on Netflix?

In an early interview, Kolstad implied that the series could be on our screens as early as 2022, but of course, we’re now two years old and still not the wiser. Speaking to Jeff Sneider from Collider in March 2021, Kolstad said, “Probably two years. Probably, no, about 18 months. These things, from inception to execution, are 18 months to two years. My job will probably be done in six months with the other writers. And yet you’re always on standby to go, like, ‘This isn’t working. This line sucks. The actor wants to do something cool.’ But I also believe that, especially in animation, if they can have all the episodes in hand going into it, I make their job easier, too.”

As mentioned above, Kolstad’s prediction was slightly optimistic in hindsight. Considering the trailer says coming soon indicates to us that the series is likely to arrive on Netflix sometime in 2025.

Are you excited about Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell: Deathwatch on Netflix? Let us know in the comments!