‘Doom’ Franchise Story ‘Masters of Doom’ Coming to USA Network

Masters of Doom tv series 0
DOOM (2016) / Courtesy of id Software & Bethesda Softworks

Entertainment site, Bloody Disgusting, has reported that the story of id Software‘s creation is coming to the small screen.

USA Network has already cast for the leads for a mini-series based off of the book, Masters of Doom, by David Kushner. The book is based on the creation of the software company responsible for the wave of first-person shooter games that were released in the 1990’s. Games like Wolfenstein, Doom, and Quake, are some of the notable titles from id. Duke Nukem was also released from a franchise owned by id, as was the less popular Heretic game. I also have a soft spot of Commander Keen.

What’s exciting about this biopic, focusing on id founders John Carmack and John Romero, is seeing where some of the notoriety of the company came from. Will the biopic show the origins of the well-known cheat codes from Doom? Maybe they’ll show how the Marines used Doom to train recruits. Or how their soundtrack blatantly ripped off numerous metal bands, like Metallica, Pantera, and Slayer. Even Stone Temple Pilots and Alice in Chains.

Maybe they’ll reveal what the strange link is between their games and Lawrence of Arabia. Or how they didn’t create Wolfenstein, but instead were producing an “homage” to the original game, Castle Wolfenstein. When they discovered the copyright had lapsed for the game, the original company folding several years before, they bought it. And a game that was almost titled “Castle Hasslehoff” became Wolfenstein 3D, instead.

As it’s focused on two of the founders of the company, with Eduardo Franco starring as Carmack and Patrick Gibson as Romero, we should expect to see more insights into the creators. Perhaps they’ll treat us to Carmack’s ridiculous 80-hour-work-week schedule. Maybe we’ll learn about John Romero’s hyperthymesia, a condition that gives someone the ability to remember almost every detail of their lives.

It might also be fair to guess they don’t discuss things I’d be interested to see. Like how id struggled with Nintendo to release Wolfenstein 3D for the SNES. This resulted in the game being wiped of all Nazi imagery, up to, and including, getting rid of Hitler’s mustache. Odd considering it’s a game about a specific period in time where Nazi’s and Adolf Hitler, distinctly, were a prevalent problem.

From the article:

Masters of Doom is the true story of two computer geniuses in an obscure corner of America who, along with a group of rebellious misfits, created one of the biggest franchise hits of the 90s, the video game Doom. John Carmack and John Romero were best friends who became bitter rivals, as they created a video game empire and transformed pop culture forever.

IMDB reports that the show is currently “in-production” with no further details.


Related Article: ‘The Last Of Us Part II’ Gets a Release Date and 3 Physical Editions

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