Twisted Metal Series

The Twisted Metal series will star Anthony Mackie in the lead role but will also bring on a number of high-profile talents for in-person and voice roles.

Twisted Metal is getting a live-action small screen adaptation with Anthony Mackie in the lead, and there’s reason to be excited. Video games have been proving fruitful ground for the ramped-up streaming wars happening across a number of different platforms.

What were once very difficult adaptations with years and years of disappointing movies based on popular game franchises, the tide is starting to turn in recent years with more talent and money heading into these projects.

We are going to get another one soon enough with Anthony Mackie signing on to star in and produce a Twisted Metal series. It’s an interesting concept considering the nature of the original game, but there are a lot of ways this kind of thing could work. Let’s take a look at what we know about the Twisted Metal series and what it could mean for Mackie.

TWISTED METAL IS BASED ON THE POPULAR VIDEO GAME FRANCHISE

Twisted Metal is the name of a video game franchise that was first introduced back in 1995 for Playstation. The concept is pretty simple, though very engaging. It’s essentially a demolition derby-style game in which players take control of different suped-up and pretty ridiculous vehicles.

There are weapons, powers, and all kinds of other things associated with each car or truck. These aren’t the kinds of things you are going to run across on your standard Sunday drive. Far from it. 

And in each game, there is a background story about Twisted Metal which is the name of the actual competition each vehicle is coming to compete in. There are characters driving each vehicle, all of who have shown up at the titular event hosted by the mysterious Calypso.

The characters’ stories are pretty wide-ranging which is one encouraging thing about the adaptation. This is more than just about cars and trucks banging into each other. 

ANTHONY MACKIE WILL PLAY JOHN DOE

Deadline and Variety both had it that Anthony Mackie landed a deal to produce and star in a Twisted Metal series. It was an interesting idea behind the adaptation considering the nature of the original video game.

Seeing as how humans aren’t exactly at the forefront of this game, how they developed a series around the original IP was going to be interesting. Apparently, in the series, Anthony Mackie will play John Doe who is sent on a mission to deliver a mysterious package. 

In the game, John Doe has amnesia and isn’t completely sure who he is or why he is at the competition. There is some chance this element plays into the story for the series, especially if Anthony Mackie as John Doe is on a mission that will have him uncovering pieces of his past.

The story will have him traveling across a futuristic and (very) dystopian landscape, setting the stage for all kinds of crazy encounters. The Doe character is an interesting one from this angle because of his relative blank slate (as it were) and it could mean we are onboarded to this world through his eyes.

This would likely make it considerably easier for folks new to the franchise to figure out what is happening in this world.

WILL ARNETT IS IN TWISTED METAL AS THE VOICE OF SWEET TOOTH

Besides Anthony Mackie, we have some other quality creatives on board for the Twisted Metal series with things pointing very much like this is going to go the horror-comedy route with the story.

For starters, Michael Jonathan Smith is handling the script. He is coming off working on Netflix’s hit Cobra Kai where he’s worked for the first three seasons.

Also set to produce are Will Arnett and Marc Forman who most recently put out Murderville on Netflix. It was as comedic and daring as they come with the unscripted show bringing on new faces each week to “solve” a murder. The first season had a strong showing with critics. 

Will Arnett will also be voicing the character of Sweet Tooth, who we will get to in a bit. The character is crucial to the franchise and will have another actor playing the physical role of the character.

JOE ‘SAMOA JOE’ SEANOA IS SWEET TOOTH

The Twisted Metal series announced one of the biggest casting decisions for the show and it helps to see how the series taking shape. The character of Sweet Tooth has been finalized with a couple of different guys helping to bring the “guy” to life.

It looks like in the show they will call the character Sweet Tooth and not Needles Kane, something the game makes a distinction about. The Sweet Tooth name is much more associated with the game though, so it makes sense to have gone this direction for the show. And Arnett voicing the character does continue to lend to the speculation that this will be a deeply comedic series even if it’s violent and dark.

But remember, Will Arnett is only voicing the character. Who actually takes on the muscles, the suit, and the clown face will be someone totally different. That’s going to be Joe “Samoa Joe” Seanoa who comes over from All Elite Wrestling.

The 6’2, 300+ pound Samoa Joe will look to fill out the mass needed for such an intimidating character, and should stand in fairly stark juxtaposition to what Arnett brings with the voice. Considering how important Sweet Tooth is to the overall Twisted Metal brand, we are likely to get significant screentime for these two.

It should be pretty amazing to see how they handle this character who could be comedically horrifying. And the truck itself, with the flaming clown head on top is sure to be something that Anthony Mackie sees in his rearview more than a few times throughout the course of the series. 

It’s an exciting addition to the Twisted Metal series and easy to see how things are starting to take shape.

THOMAS HAYDEN CHURCH AND STEPHANIE BEATRIZ HAVE JOINED THE CAST

Twisted Metal has a rich group of characters through the many iterations of the game. It’s led to speculation about who could and would join this series in actual roles. We know two of them will be Thomas Hayden Church as Agent Stone and Stephanie Beatriz as Quiet.

Agent Stone has been around the game since the beginning and drives Crimson Fury. It’s unclear if the Hayden Church version of the character will carry that over into the Anthony Mackie series. He’s on a mission for the US Government to find a weapon.

Meanwhile, not much is known about Beatriz’s Quiet and how she will work into the series. She could end up being a combination of a couple of different characters.

Also, Richard Cabral is on as Loud and Neve Campbell will have a recurring role as well.

We thought we were to get Calypso in some fashion, he who hosts the Twisted Metal competition. Others could include Charlie and Marcus Kane, Mr. Zombie, Bruce Cochrane, and if we are going to get the government involved then Commander Mason. Again, the Twisted Metal series has done an excellent job over the years at adding character intrigue to the demolition derby, such as it were. 

TWISTED METAL WILL STREAM ON PEACOCK

Peacock secured the rights for the Twisted Metal series and that’s where it will land on streaming. Considering some of their other offerings, it will be interesting to see where this ultimately lands in terms of rating. Video game adaptations can tend to play to a younger crowd because of the nature of the IP, but this setting, concept, character list, and plot details would all suggest a more violent offering. We will have to see which direction the streamer goes there.