Twisted Metal officially coming back but not as you know it

Sony has officially announced that it is reviving the Twisted Metal series. Instead of a new game, however, it’s making a television series.

The announcement was made during Sony’s CES 2022 keynote, alongside official details for PlayStation VR 2. However, details on the TV project are incredibly scarce, with Sony not sharing anything else beyond the news of its existence. This technically isn’t new information either, as there have been reports of a Twisted Metal TV show being in development since 2019. But news about it has been so fleeting and sparse that people seemed to either forget about it or assume that it was only a rumor.

Sony originally confirmed a Twisted Metal TV series was in development during an investors meeting (via IGN) and, in February 2021, Variety revealed that it will be a live-action comedy series from Deadpool writers Rhett Reese and Paul Vernick.

The show will apparently see a “motor-mouthed outsider” be offered a chance at a better life, so long as he can successfully deliver a package across a post-apocalyptic wasteland. According to Deadline, The Falcon & the Winter Soldier star Anthony Mackie will play the lead role, although series mascot Sweet Tooth will make an appearance as well.

A twisted history of rumors

Twisted Metal is a vehicular combat game that debuted in 1995 for the PlayStation One. Think of it as an even more violent and darkly humorous Destruction AllStars. The series was something of a staple of the original PlayStation, receiving three sequels.

It was rebooted twice, once for the PlayStation 2 in 2001 and again for the PlayStation 3 in 2012, but has been completely neglected by Sony since, aside from Sweet Tooth making an appearance in the crossover fighting game PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale.

There have been rumors of a new Twisted Metal game, one made specifically to tie in with the TV show, for a while now. GamesBeat’s Jeff Grubb claimed in September that one was in the works as part of a strategy by Sony to synergize its first-party games with its movies and TV shows (thanks VGC). He added that it will not involve series director David Jaffe, who left Sony in 2007.

VGC’s own sources say that Lucid Games will develop it, which makes sense as this is the same studio that made the aforementioned Destruction AllStars. It will reportedly even adopt a similar free-to-play model and will supposedly launch alongside the TV show in 2023.

While a new Twisted Metal game hasn’t been confirmed yet, the official announcement of a revival (albeit one for TV), certainly adds weight to the rumors of a new game.