Amazon’s Life Is Strange TV Series Reaches Major Development Milestone

Just over a year ago, Amazon MGM and Square Enix announced that a TV series based on the first Life Is Strange game had been greenlit. A handful of casting announcements and updates followed in the months since, while a release window remained elusive. Now the adaptation has reached a major milestone: filming has wrapped.

The news came from the show’s cinematographer, Vincent De Paula, in a post on Instagram. WRAPPED is emblazoned over a collage of photos styled to look like Polaroids that show snippets of production alongside a photo of the two leads and old key art from the game itself. The caption for the post read, “Can’t wait to show you what we did.”

Coincidentally, the announcement that the show had wrapped filming occurred within the same week that the game takes place, from Oct. 7–11.

Amazon’s Life Is Strange series will be written by Charlie Covell (The End of the F***ing World), who will also serve as executive producer and showrunner. Maisy Stella (My Old Ass) and Tatum Grace Hopkins will star as Chloe and Max, the show’s leading duo, respectively. The supporting cast includes Tom Cullen, Leisha Hailey, Raúl Castillo, Owen Teague, Billy Barratt, Emily Carey, Esther McGregor, Faly Rakotohavana, and Mia Isaac. Karyn Kusama (Jennifer’s Body, Yellowjackets) will serve as director for the first two episodes of the series. A full episode count and release window have yet to be announced.

What’s the state of the Life Is Strange games right now?

This year brought the release of Life Is Strange: Reunion. The game served as a sequel to both 2024’s Double Exposure and the 2015 original, reuniting Max and Chloe. The game was billed as the finale for the story of Max and Chloe, and attempted to rectify issues the fanbase had with how the pair’s relationship was handled in Double Exposure. Ultimately, the game received mixed reviews. Some critics bemoaned the almost fan-fiction-like tone of the story’s push to make everything work out for Max and Chloe, while others felt it was the sendoff the pair deserved.

While Reunion marks the end of Max and Chloe’s story in the games, it remains unclear if the release serves as the end of the series as a whole. Square Enix revealed that Reunion exceeded the company’s sales expectations, though that occurred because expectations were low following the poor performance of Double Exposure. Nothing new has been announced yet, and fans are left wondering if Square Enix will see potential in Life Is Strange going forward. Perhaps the TV series will reignite interest in the franchise.

Source: Polygon