The Settlers of Catan Movie Finds Its Directors

Netflix’s live-action adaptation of The Settlers of Catan is taking shape, with a filmmaking duo reportedly hired to write and direct the movie.

According to Deadline, Aaron and Adam Nee will write and direct the Catan film for Netflix. The brothers are best known for directing The Lost City, the 2022 action-adventure comedy starring Sandra Bullock and Channing Tatum. Netflix has not publicly commented on the report.

The reported hiring marks the first major development since Netflix secured exclusive global rights to Catan in October 2025. The agreement also allows Netflix to develop animated films, scripted television, unscripted projects and video games based on the franchise.

What could a Catan movie look like?

Created by Klaus Teuber and originally released in 1995 as The Settlers of Catan, the board game has sold more than 45 million copies worldwide. Players compete to develop settlements on the fictional island of Catan by collecting resources, trading with opponents, building roads and expanding their territories.

How Netflix plans to turn those mechanics into a feature-length story remains unclear. Aaron and Adam Nee have worked across several genres.

In The Lost City, a romance novelist becomes caught up in a dangerous jungle treasure hunt after an eccentric billionaire kidnaps her. The brothers also directed Band of Robbers (2015), a modern crime comedy that reimagines characters from Mark Twain’s The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and Adventures of Huckleberry Finn in a different setting. Unlike those works, Catan has no established narrative for filmmakers to follow.

The Nee brothers have also worked on other adaptations, including writing Masters of the Universe and an upcoming Netflix spy movie starring Kevin Hart and Henry Cavill.

Netflix could take several approaches to Catan, from a fantasy adventure or a story about rival settlements to a politically driven tale about trade. Whether the movie will keep the board game’s lighter tone or take its setting in a more serious direction remains to be seen.

Source: Polygon