The last main Splinter Cell game was Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell: Blacklist in 2013. It’s been over a decade since gamers had the chance to save the world as Sam Fisher. This week, we’re getting a new Splinter Cell. Even though it’s not a video game, it continues the story of Sam Fisher and is created by Derek Kolstad, known for writing the John Wick and Nobody film series.

Directing the series is Guillaume Dousse, who also serves as the production designer. He and his studio, Sun Creature Studio, have worked with Netflix previously with Love, Death & Robots for the short, “Alternate Histories,” in which we see the many death scenarios for Hitler. With Splinter Cell: Deathwatch, the team is tasked with a whole series as we follow an older Sam Fisher returning to 4th Echelon in dealing with another threat and his past.

“There were definitely elements that we considered bringing to the series,” Dousse tells Nerd Reactor. “Like the goggles are an obvious one. You can’t do Splinter Cell without the goggles. The second thing is Sam Fisher. You need Sam Fisher, and we do have him. So I think it’s very essential for the series to make sense in this universe. There were things that we didn’t do, for instance, Sam’s famous split. We didn’t get to do that.”

Dousse was tasked with adapting the script by Kolstand and other writers to the screen while trying to maintain as much of Splinter Cell as possible.

“So I think it was very much following the script as well and just figuring out, for each scene, what are you balancing,” the director said. “Necessarily, we have also the emotions at stake for McKenna, who’s the trigger, and where a lot of things go bad for her. But then of course, Sam is kind of a catalyst because the plots and the conspiracies that McKenna is a part of, and the rivaling is deeply connected to Sam’s own history.”

At the beginning of Splinter Cell: Deathwatch, we see Sam Fisher relaxing in a remote area. That all changes when enemies are on the hunt after a 4th Echelon member and invading his sanctuary.

“It’s been more than 10 years since we saw Sam Fisher,” Dousse explained. “He’s older, he’s a little different, and he’s maybe a little more grumpy as well. But I think that was also an interesting thing to look for this gap in time, not to really know what happened and to have to kind of immerse yourself with this version of Sam that left the missions behind, that left 4th Echelon and had to once again put the goggles on.”

You can check out the full interview above.

About Splinter Cell: Deathwatch

Synopsis: In this first-ever adaptation of the acclaimed stealth video game franchise Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell, legendary agent Sam Fisher is drawn back into the field when a wounded young operative seeks out his help. Produced by Ubisoft, in partnership with Derek Kolstad (John Wick), Sun Creature and Fost.

The series contains eight 30-minute episodes.

The cast includes Liev Schreiber (X-Men Origins: Wolverine) as Sam Fisher, Kirby Howell-Baptiste (Netflix’s The Sandman) as Zinnia Mckenna, Janet Varney (The Legend of Korra) as Anna Grimsdottir, Aleks Le (Demon Slayer, Dan Da Dan, Solo Leveling) as Charlie Shetland, and Kari Wahlgren (Samurai Champloo, FLCL, Dan Da Dan, Cyberpunk 2077) as Diana Shetland.

The series is directed by Guillaume Dousse and co-directed by Félicien Colmet-Daage. The executive producers are Derek Kolstad, and Helene Juguet, Hugo Revon and Gerard Guillemot for Ubisoft Film & Television.

Splinter Cell: Deathwatch premieres on Netflix on October 14, 2025.