# Warhammer (TV show being produced for Amazon) **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** tv-shows-scripted, amazon-prime\ **Created:** [February 10, 2026, 8:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/warhammer-tv-show-being-produced-for-amazon/1027539 "2026-02-10T08:26:04Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2026, 12:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/warhammer-tv-show-being-produced-for-amazon/1027539/41 "2026-02-11T00:18:31Z")
> [@Calder](#): > > Wait a minute, is this still happening? I thought this project got shelved because Calvil wouldn’t budge on fitting into Amazon’s requirements for every show having a minimum number of minorities and women and this show having trouble making that work. The show’s been in “preproduction” for years now, which is usually a bad sign for it ever getting made, but AFAIK it doesn’t have anything to do with Cavil fighting about putting women or non-white people in the show. While the Imperium is deeply, deeply racist, it’s only “fantasy racist.” Nobody in the setting cares if you’re Black, so long as you aren’t an elf or an ork. There is an ongoing controversy in the fandom over the concept of, specifically, female space marines, and possibly Cavil would have sided on the “nope” side of that, but outside of the marines, women are regularly presented in positions of power and prestige, including plenty of martial roles. There are female Guardsmen, female Commissars, female Inquisitors, female Tech-priests, and so forth. Tons of opportunities to cast women there. ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2026, 12:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/warhammer-tv-show-being-produced-for-amazon/1027539/42 "2026-02-11T00:19:26Z")
Why does a science fiction TV series need to be about common things to see? In my experience, they’re mostly about _uncommon_ things. Knowing how TV works, the series will almost certainly be about an Ultramarine, a Sister of Battle, an Eldar, a Tau and maybe a Necron who are forced to work together to save the universe, probably on a spaceship. Along the way they’ll learn something about each other’s cultures and find out that they’re not so different after all. Species is the SF stand-in for race, and there’s no way that a TV show won’t preach racial tolerance. ---
**Author:** ![Whack-a-Mole](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/whack-a-mole/32/141_2.png) [@Whack-a-Mole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whack-a-Mole)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2026, 12:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/warhammer-tv-show-being-produced-for-amazon/1027539/43 "2026-02-11T00:20:10Z")
> [@Babale](#): > > Someone who is sentient and thus capable of giving a shit but who does not is evil, yeah. Are you evil if you eat a steak (or, if you are a vegetarian, do you think all people who eat meat are evil)? From the cow’s perspective humans are pure evil. From the gazelle’s perspective all lions are evil. Do you think lions are evil? ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2026, 12:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/warhammer-tv-show-being-produced-for-amazon/1027539/44 "2026-02-11T00:21:29Z")
> [@Whack-a-Mole](#): > > From the cow’s perspective humans are pure evil. If cows had perspective, then eating a steak _would_ be evil. Fortunately, they don’t. ---
**Author:** ![Babale](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/babale/32/15666_2.png) [@Babale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Babale)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2026, 12:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/warhammer-tv-show-being-produced-for-amazon/1027539/45 "2026-02-11T00:22:50Z")
> [@Calder](#): > > Wait a minute, is this still happening? I thought this project got shelved because Calvil wouldn’t budge on fitting into Amazon’s requirements for every show having a minimum number of minorities and women and this show having trouble making that work. I’m having trouble parsing this. Are you saying that Henry Cavill was arguing with Amazon because he didn’t want women and minorities in the show? That does not really sound like him, from what I know of him. I’m also unsure why on Earth it would be an issue. Humans of all races are part of the Empire of Man, if the show is really gonna be about some Imperial Guardsmen canon fodder they could easily have soldiers of any race. And I don’t know if the minis show it, but my understanding of the lore is that there are plenty of women fighting for the Empire, both in distinguished women-specific roles like the Sisters of Battle and as grunts in the Imperial Guard. ---
**Author:** ![Babale](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/babale/32/15666_2.png) [@Babale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Babale)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2026, 12:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/warhammer-tv-show-being-produced-for-amazon/1027539/46 "2026-02-11T00:23:24Z")
> [@Whack-a-Mole](#): > > Sisters of Battle. > > Sisters of Silence are blanks who can dampen psychers. Sisters of Battle are bad ass women warriors. Not Astarte level badass but above regular soldier badass. And there are generic women soldiers as well. ---
**Author:** ![Babale](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/babale/32/15666_2.png) [@Babale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Babale)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2026, 12:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/warhammer-tv-show-being-produced-for-amazon/1027539/47 "2026-02-11T00:24:32Z")
> [@Calder](#): > > Is there are reason Sisters of Battle couldn’t be used. Sorry, I am going off of a news article more than a year old and don’t remember the details beyond the show being shelved because Cavil wouldn’t force women in the show. I think Sisters of Battle are a super elite unit. It would be almost like having a Space Marine character - if the other characters are baseline humans, they’d be in a different league entirely than a Sister of Battle. ---
**Author:** ![Meatwater](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/meatwater/32/20074_2.png) [@Meatwater](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Meatwater)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2026, 12:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/warhammer-tv-show-being-produced-for-amazon/1027539/48 "2026-02-11T00:27:55Z")
> [@Alessan](#): > > Knowing how TV works, the series will almost certainly be about an Ultramarine, a Sister of Battle, an Eldar, a Tau and maybe a Necron who are forced to work together to save the universe, probably on a spaceship. Along the way they’ll learn something about each other’s cultures and find out that they’re not so different after all. That’ll be the spinoff animated comedy series. Side note I’m sure I’m not the only one but I am sick of Ultramarines as the main characters. ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2026, 12:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/warhammer-tv-show-being-produced-for-amazon/1027539/49 "2026-02-11T00:28:49Z")
It’s probably a good idea to be a little suspicious about reporting surrounding the show. Both WH40K and Cavil as a person have attracted a lot of fans with questionable politics, and there’s a significant media engine out there that uses these topics to spin up outrage. “Henry Cavil gallantly defends Warhammer show from woke Amazon,” is the sort of garbage they come up with on the regular, and it’s mostly based on smoke and wishful thinking. ---
**Author:** ![Babale](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/babale/32/15666_2.png) [@Babale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Babale)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2026, 12:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/warhammer-tv-show-being-produced-for-amazon/1027539/50 "2026-02-11T00:30:16Z")
> [@Miller](#): > > There is an ongoing controversy in the fandom over the concept of, specifically, female space marines The controversy in question is, of course, stupid; but the argument (the logical argument, not the CHUD argument) isn’t “women aren’t badass enough to be Space Marines”, it’s “Space Marines are artificially created from the genetic material of the Primarch that heads up their chapter, and the Primarchs are created from the genetic material of the Emperor, who is male”. Now, none of the Primarchs are identical clones of the Emperor, and neither are the Space Marines; if you’re making changes to the genomes anyways, one of those changes could certainly be to the sex chromosomes (assuming that Space Marines are even human enough to work that way in the first place). So it’s not a _good_ argument against female Space Marines, but it’s at least more than “lawl women are weak”. > [@Miller](#): > > but outside of the marines, women are regularly presented in positions of power and prestige, including plenty of martial roles. There are female Guardsmen, female Commissars, female Inquisitors, female Tech-priests, and so forth. Tons of opportunities to cast women there. This was my understanding as well, the Empire doesn’t care much about gender roles as long as you’re a human untainted by chaos, genestealers, and so on. ---
**Author:** ![Calder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e99b99/32.png) [@Calder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Calder)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2026, 12:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/warhammer-tv-show-being-produced-for-amazon/1027539/51 "2026-02-11T00:31:19Z")
> The show’s been in “preproduction” for years now, which is usually a bad sign for it ever getting made, but AFAIK it doesn’t have anything to do with Cavil fighting about putting women or non-white people in the show. While the Imperium is deeply, deeply racist, it’s only “fantasy racist.” Nobody in the setting cares if you’re Black, so long as you aren’t an elf or an ork. > > There is an ongoing controversy in the fandom over the concept of, specifically, female space marines, and possibly Cavil would have sided on the “nope” side of that, but outside of the marines, women are regularly presented in positions of power and prestige, including plenty of martial roles. There are female Guardsmen, female Commissars, female Inquisitors, female Tech-priests, and so forth. Tons of opportunities to cast women there. Sorry, I should be more careful with what I wrote. I was not trying to say that Cavil or 40K was racist in terms of minority’s or POC. As I understand it he only had trouble getting enough women into the show to fit Amazon’s requirements for a new TV show. I remembered it had something to do with 40K lore only have two factions with women in it and one didn’t work because they never speak and I forgot why the 2nd group didn’t work. From the comments above Sisters of Battle who only serve in all female units. Maybe that is why they didn’t work. ---
**Author:** ![Babale](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/babale/32/15666_2.png) [@Babale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Babale)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2026, 12:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/warhammer-tv-show-being-produced-for-amazon/1027539/52 "2026-02-11T00:32:27Z")
> [@Whack-a-Mole](#): > > Are you evil if you eat a steak (or, if you are a vegetarian, do you think all people who eat meat are evil)? I didn’t realize cows were intelligent, sentient beings! If cows ever communicated with us and told us “hey guys, we are actually intelligent and have our own society” and we were all like “lmfao I don’t care” and ate them anyways, yes, we would be evil. I’m pretty sure that Tyranids do know that humans, eldar, and even orks are intelligent, they just don’t care. ---
**Author:** ![Whack-a-Mole](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/whack-a-mole/32/141_2.png) [@Whack-a-Mole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whack-a-Mole)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2026, 12:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/warhammer-tv-show-being-produced-for-amazon/1027539/53 "2026-02-11T00:32:49Z")
Yeah, and I agree with @Babale that most of it sounds nothing like the Henry Cavill we know. I think he is committed to recreating the WH40K universe. That’s it. And, as you mentioned above, their racism is about other species in the galaxy. They are 100% fine with women and men and any race you can think of. There are humans and there are others. That’s it. No racism. No sexism. And, since there really is only one religion that’s not a problem either. ---
**Author:** ![Babale](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/babale/32/15666_2.png) [@Babale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Babale)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2026, 12:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/warhammer-tv-show-being-produced-for-amazon/1027539/54 "2026-02-11T00:34:15Z")
> [@Miller](#): > > Both WH40K and Cavil as a person have attracted a lot of fans with questionable politics, Oh shit, did he? I haven’t paid that much attention to him since season 2 of Witcher but I never had the impression he was right wing or even pandering to them. ---
**Author:** ![Whack-a-Mole](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/whack-a-mole/32/141_2.png) [@Whack-a-Mole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whack-a-Mole)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2026, 12:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/warhammer-tv-show-being-produced-for-amazon/1027539/55 "2026-02-11T00:34:34Z")
> [@Babale](#): > > I didn’t realize cows were intelligent… Of course they are intelligent. Not as intelligent as most humans but still intelligent. Also sentient. Where are you drawing your arbitrary line? (this can really be a hijack…maybe better for a new thread…just saying…I know I participated in it getting here) ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2026, 12:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/warhammer-tv-show-being-produced-for-amazon/1027539/56 "2026-02-11T00:35:33Z")
> [@Meatwater](#): > > That’ll be the spinoff animated comedy series. Wait, you thought I was joking? I wasn’t. That’s going to be the show, if it ever gets made. The fans are going to be rabid. And it’ll DEFINITELY feature Ultramarines. They’re the “face” of 40K. ---
**Author:** ![Babale](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/babale/32/15666_2.png) [@Babale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Babale)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2026, 12:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/warhammer-tv-show-being-produced-for-amazon/1027539/57 "2026-02-11T00:37:29Z")
> [@Calder](#): > > I remembered it had something to do with 40K lore only have two factions with women in it and one didn’t work because they never speak and I forgot why the 2nd group didn’t work. > > From the comments above Sisters of Battle who only serve in all female units. Maybe that is why they didn’t work. That definitely isn’t true. Eldar and Dark Eldar are both egalitarian as far as gender roles go. Orks don’t reproduce sexually and so don’t have gender but I’ll grant you that they’re all pretty dang male coded. Tyranids have as much gender as the bugs in Starship Troopers do. And as noted you can have women in combat and leadership roles in the Imperial Guard with no lore issue. Some CHUDs might complain because that faction’s minis are male in the tabletop game, but there’s nothing in the lore preventing it. ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2026, 12:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/warhammer-tv-show-being-produced-for-amazon/1027539/58 "2026-02-11T00:37:48Z")
Google “Restore the Snyderverse”. It’s incel ground zero. ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2026, 12:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/warhammer-tv-show-being-produced-for-amazon/1027539/59 "2026-02-11T00:38:21Z")
> [@Babale](#): > > The controversy in question is, of course, stupid; but the argument (the logical argument, not the CHUD argument) isn’t “women aren’t badass enough to be Space Marines”, it’s “Space Marines are artificially created from the genetic material of the Primarch that heads up their chapter, and the Primarchs are created from the genetic material of the Emperor, who is male”. It’s doubly stupid, since canonically, normal humans can be recruited as space marines. If they pass the training (which, in true grimdark fashion, has something like 99% fatality rate) then you get a bunch of cybernetic and biotech implants that turn you into a towering muscle monster. Personally, I prefer the idea that about 50% of space marines are female, and always have been, but you pump enough space steroids into a human, you lose all the secondary sexual characteristics that typically signal that someone’s female. > [@Calder](#): > > I remembered it had something to do with 40K lore only have two factions with women in it and one didn’t work because they never speak and I forgot why the 2nd group didn’t work. No, literally the opposite. There’s exactly one faction in the entire setting that’s male-only, and it’s not even just “the human faction,” it’s “this one specific human sub-faction out of a dozen or so.” Every other faction (that has any sort of discernable gender) has both male and female characters. (Orks are kind of an exception, in that they’re technically a kind of fungus, and reproduce asexually. They don’t actually have a gender, but they’re still written as very heavily male-coded.) ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2026, 12:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/warhammer-tv-show-being-produced-for-amazon/1027539/60 "2026-02-11T00:40:29Z")
> [@Babale](#): > > Oh shit, did he? I haven’t paid that much attention to him since season 2 of Witcher but I never had the impression he was right wing or even pandering to them. Yeah, but not for actually being right wing, just for being Superman in Zach Snyder’s movies. For some reason, the Zach Snyder DC movies have become a rallying point for right wing nerds in the ongoing culture war. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/warhammer-tv-show-being-produced-for-amazon/1027539.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/warhammer-tv-show-being-produced-for-amazon/1027539.md?page=4)