The film Warcraft (which also goes by its full name, Warcraft: The Beginning, leaving it open to potential sequels) wasn’t exactly a failure as a video game adaptation, but it certainly fell short of expectations. As it finds new audiences on Netflix and makes it into the Top 10, though, we have to wonder whether this success could lead to a Warcraft 2.
Related: The best cosplay from BlizzCon 2023
As a cinematic reworking of Blizzard Entertainment’s beloved MMORPG, World of Warcraft, the film earned a mediocre $439 million worldwide and sits at lowly 29% on Rotten Tomatoes. Roger Ebert dubbed it “an easy contender for the worst movie of the year.” Interestingly, the audience reception on Google Reviews rates it 4.5 stars, which explains why it’s recently become so popular on Netflix.
Rumors of a sequel began to stir in September 2023, when a supposed teaser titled Warcraft 2: The Lich King appeared on YouTube. Nine months later, another trailer for Warcraft 2: The Final Chapter, followed. Here’s if either of those hint at a Warcraft 2 coming to Netflix.
Is Warcraft 2 coming to Netflix?
Unfortunately, both trailers above were fakes (it happens a lot) and no such sequel has been confirmed. The promos were fan-made, and while impressive, neither featured any new footage but rather cleverly pieced together stuff from the existing film.
That’s not to say a sequel, even a trilogy, is totally out of the question. Director Duncan Jones expressed interest in making a second film. In 2017, he told the crowd at a special screening what his plans were for two sequels.
“My fascination with trying to do Warcraft in three films and the idea of family is, I love the idea of Durotan has sacrificed himself so his son and the people he cares about can survive—I want to see that sacrifice pay off. That’s the trilogy. That’s the heart of the story,” he said, per GeekyTyrant.com.
“The rest of it is mumbo jumbo names and shit. Good shit, because Chris Metzen is a wonderful writer, but the heart of the story is someone’s sacrifice because they thought it was worth sacrificing for, and it was a good person who has a good kid and I want that good kid to pay off.”
Then again, Jones tweeted in 2018 that it “doesn’t look good, my friend,” when a fan asked if a follow-up to the movie was in the works. However, another Warcraft movie could come to screens without Jones being involved.
Warcraft franchise director John Hight told IGN at the Game Developers’ Conference in March 2024 that the company is open to more films based on their IP, but ultimately, Activision-Blizzard is a games studio first and the relationship would have to be just right.
“If we can find talent in other areas doing media that have that shared love and passion for Warcraft, absolutely. But I think I’ve seen, unfortunately, some of my colleagues get enamored with the idea of becoming filmmakers and leveraging the opportunity that they have in owning the IP or controlling the IP to be an entry into filmmaking,” he said.
“I think if we found the right partner, found the right situation, I think especially if they have a proficiency in a game genre that we really don’t, I think that’d be the ideal partner for us to work with and we’re open to that, but that’s relatively new. I’m open to it because I want to have Warcraft out there a little more than it is now, and I also don’t want to have us grow so fast that we’re no longer able to serve the audiences we have.”
So, don’t give up, WoW fans!
Warcraft is available to stream on Netflix.
