Ubisoft wraps filming on Watch Dogs movie, but no one knows what it’s about

Ubisoft has announced that filming on the first-ever Watch Dogs movie has now finished. However, the thing that’s taken most people by surprise with this announcement is that there’s a Watch Dogs movie in the works at all.

With filming wrapped, the production will move on to editing a final cut that should make it into cinemas and onto streaming services, but there’s no indication of what that looks like. The plot of Watch Dogs has been closely guarded since the movie was announced, and nothing leaked after filming began earlier this year. For many, it’s hard even to believe that Ubisoft is investing in a movie when it seems to care very little about the games after launching Watch Dogs: Legion.

What’s it about?

Fans in the replies to Ubisoft’s news are asking the exact same question most of us are. “Based on the first game’s plot?” Unfortunately, no clarification has been provided. Our only concrete information is from an article on Ubisoft’s website in June 2024. It states that the movie will be an original story that takes place within the Watch Dogs universe.

This sounds very much like Ubisoft has had director Mathieu Turi and screenwriter Christie LeBlanc, who also worked on Netflix’s Oxygen, craft a story that captures what the Watch Dogs franchise is while being an original narrative in its own right.

The first Watch Dogs takes place entirely in Chicago and sees protagonist Aiden Pearce take on the company that’s established itself as a veritable big brother and all the shady groups working within the system for their own nefarious desires.

In Watch Dogs 2, Marcus Holloway works with DedSec to execute the biggest hack in history in San Fransisco. Watch Dogs: Legion is the bleakest but most compelling setting, a post-Brexit London that’s patrolled by an advanced security force that hits just a bit too close to reality.

Fans loved the Bloodline DLC for Watch Dogs: Legion because it brought original protagonist Aiden Pearce back into the fold. I’d love to see something similar from this movie. An original story set in a city never explored in the franchise before, with interesting characters specific to the movie.

However, I’d also love to have characters from the games make a cameo and tie them all together. There’s so much to pull from with this IP, but throwing every element together and hoping for greatness won’t be enough. The story must enable the tech on show to feel real and craft a world you could reasonably believe is only a few years more advanced than our own. It needs to wow viewers but also scare them.