Netflix's Bioshock movie adaptation producer confirms the story is based on Bioshock 2007 and is set in Rapture

In a recent exclusive interview with The Direct, producer Roy Lee has confirmed that the long-awaited adaptation of Bioshock is “definitely” based on the original 2007 video game, a major update for fans who have been waiting for the movie’s scope after years of development limbo.

Speaking to The Direct, Roy Lee didn’t reveal much about the movie, stating, “Netflix wants us to keep everything under wraps. But it’s definitely going to be based on the first ‘Bioshock’ game,”

The first Bioshock game was released nearly two decades ago, on August 21, 2007, for the Xbox 360 and PC, before making its way to the PlayStation 3 later in 2009. The game followed the story of Jack as he crash-landed into the ocean and discovered a Lighthouse, which led him to the underwater dystopian city of Rapture.

Formerly a utopia built on objectivist ideals, the city deteriorated into chaos due to genetic experiments and societal decline. Soon, the residents of Rapture became addicted to a substance harvested from a special sea slug, ADAM, which rewrote a person’s genetic code, giving them superphysiological abilities and was seen as a path to human perfection.

However, citizens soon developed an addiction to the substance as it was discovered that ADAM would replace a user’s stem cells with unstable modified cells, requiring the inhabitants of Rapture to use more ADAM to avoid getting deformities and mental decline.

Amid a civil war to control Rapture, ADAM became increasingly scarce, and citizens became desperate for the next dose, driving the inhabitants of Rapture into a state of madness and violence. These addicts became known as splicers.

The Bioshock movie was first announced in 2022 as a Netflix original with Francis Lawrence, known for directing the Hunger Games and I Am Legend was attached to spearhead the project with Vertigo Entertainment’s Roy Lee and Miri Yoon acting as producers.

Oscar-nominated screenwriter for Logan, Michael Green, is penning Bioshock’s script. However, progress for the movie has been slow, as in July 2024, amid cost-cutting measures and new leadership, the film’s budget was significantly reduced, changing the scope of the movie from a spectacle blockbuster to a more intimate, personal story with a character-driven narrative. 

Roy Lee had explained last year that this change resulted in a “much smaller” production, prompting a full script rewrite to adapt to the reduced budget.

According to a 2025 interview, Lawrence shared that, “Bioshock is still in development. We’re in a pretty good place.” However, it will be a long time before fans get to see the movie, as Lawrence will work on the movie after directing The Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping, which is currently filming in Spain and is poised for a November 20, 2026, release. 

This could very well push the Bioshock movie’s production to start in late 2026 or early 2027, with no official release date, casting announcements, or further plot details on the horizon.