10 video games that would make great TV shows

3. Starcraft

It’s hard to pick just one Blizzard game to turn into a TV show, but for my money, the one that would be the most exciting and engrossing is Starcraft. These strategy games have everything a Game of Thrones fan could want: complex politics, epic battles, doomed romances, and personal stories of triumph and tragedy. They also have an element of gritty realism that’s less present in some of Blizzard’s other titles, like Warcraft, Overwatch, and Diablo.

In the distant future, humanity has reached into the stars and set up colonies across the galaxy. As in The Expanse, the humans of Starcraft (called Terrans) bring all their baggage with them into space, and have some serious political and ideological divides. But when a race of virulent alien creatures known as the Zerg begins ransacking planets, humanity is put on the ropes and forced to make soul-crushing decisions in order to survive. Things are complicated even further when another alien race appears and begins nuking the Zerg-infested human colonies in an attempt to contain the spread of the vicious creatures.

The closest thing I can compare the two alien races of Starcraft to is the iconic Xenomorph of Ridley Scott’s Alien and the Predator…if the Predator belonged to a deeply spiritual and well-developed culture. So picture Aliens, Predators, and humans wrapped up in a Game of Thrones-style plot and you’ll have an idea of what Starcraft is all about.

As if I needed to say anything more than that, Starcraft also has some of the most memorable characters in gaming, none moreso than Kerrigan, the Queen of Blades. In the second Starcraft game, Kerrigan was voiced by Tricia Helfer of Battlestar Galactica fame. Casting her in the same role in a Starcraft show would be a fan’s dream come true.

As if I needed to say anything more than that, it also has some of the best characters ever to grace video games — none moreso than Kerrigan, the Queen of Blades. Kerrigan begins her journey as a human operative with psionic powers, who is then betrayed and left behind to be captured by the Zerg. She gets assimilated into their grotesque army, and ultimately ends up rising to the top to rule it and become one of humanity’s most fearsome foes. As well as, possibly, the key to saving it.

It’s a deep role, and one that would be powerful to see realized on screen. In the second Starcraft game, Kerrigan was voiced by Tricia Helfer of Battlestar Galactica fame. Casting her in the same role in a Starcraft show would be a fan’s dream come true.

I mean, come on — this one comes with at least one dream casting built right in! What more could you want?