Hasbro Alum Finn Arnesen Joins Games Workshop

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Games Workshop Group is placing a renewed focus on its content strategy, tapping former Turner Broadcasting and Hasbro Studios executive Finn Arnesen as its first head of entertainment development.

Arnesen is tasked with mining the Warhammer universe—home to thousands of novels and short stories, featuring a diverse range of engaging and extremely popular characters—to develop live-action and animated content for broadcast channels and platforms around the globe. He will be reporting to Jon Gillard, Games Workshop’s executive VP of global licensing.

The initial content slate includes the previously announced live-action drama based on the best-selling Eisenhorn series of novels. Eisenhorn, a classic tale of one powerful character’s fight against external and internal threats, set in the galaxy-spanning, dark dystopia of the 41st millennium, is currently being developed with Frank Spotnitz (The Man in the High Castle, The X-Files) and his company, Big Light Productions.

Gillard commented: “In its almost 40-year history, Warhammer has been a leader in the field of tabletop and video gaming, growing into one of the most fully realized examples of fantasy and sci-fi world-building ever devised. The characters we’ve explored and stories we’ve told during that time, through games, books, comics and more, are crying out to be brought to the screen. Getting Finn on board, with his wealth of expertise and knowledge across both programming and wider IP use, combined with his sheer energy and passion, will continue to cement Warhammer as one of the most unique and distinctive fantasy settings ever.”

Arnesen added: “This is a hugely exciting time to be joining Games Workshop, and I am relishing the opportunity to work with such an established yet, in terms of entertainment, relatively unexplored universe as Warhammer. There is a tremendous appetite at present for series set in unique, fantastical worlds, so, with Warhammer’s thousands of stories, numerous worlds and countless memorable characters, our options are virtually limitless. I was delighted to discover there are already early discussions in place with a variety of production companies around the world, from L.A. to Japan, and an array of highly sought after writing talent, to bring the vast Warhammer universe to all platforms.”