The Canceled Deus Ex Movie Script Revealed

Just a year after the release of Deus Ex: Human Revolution in 2011, CBS Films took on a film adaptation of the game, calling on Sinister director Scott Derrickson and his collaborator Robert Cargill. Although the movie eventually never got to see the light of day, thanks to USA Today's recent interview with the development executive for Prime Universe Productions Scott Kinney we can now learn a few details on the plot of the canceled adaptation.

For the most part, the script of the film was consistent with the story of the original source. For those unfamiliar with the game, it takes place in the year 2027 telling the story of Adam Jensen, the Chief of Security for the biotechnology company Sarif Industries, who had to undergo body augmentation after a life-threatening accident. The biggest difference between the game and the film was Jensen's request to install cybernetic implants for him. The game did this without his consent with the protagonist's phrase "I never asked for this" gaining great popularity among gamers and even turning into a meme.

Despite this, Jensen's iconic quote still had to appear in the film. According to the screenplay script, the protagonist pronounces it at the time of the battle with Lawrence Barrett. The villain tells him that they are similar since both are augmented. However, Jensen disagrees, stating that he never asked for it.

As for the reasons for cancellation, the fact that Scott Derrickson had to step away to direct Doctor Strange was probably the major one as without him the project fell apart. "Of course, Scott Derrickson and C. Robert Cargill left the project for Doctor Strange and it just died," said Kinney.

However, there is a possibility that the film would not have taken place even if Derrickson had remained in the project. According to Kinney, CBS Films was skeptical about the adaptation but failed to communicate it properly to the writers. "I don’t think I really understood the studio’s reasoning at the time," he shared. "They communicated that Deus Ex wasn’t the kind of film they wanted to make or felt comfortable making, that their overall strategy was shifting from action films like Dwayne Johnson’s Faster, which they had previously financed, to films more like The Duff."

You can find the original interview with Scott Kinney here. Also, don't forget to join our new Reddit page, our new Telegram channel, follow us on Instagram and Twitter, where we are sharing breakdowns, the latest news, awesome artworks, and more.