The settlers of Catan are moving into some new territory: streaming. The popular board game is coming to Netflix under a new deal that will bring it to the screen for the first time. Netflix is planning to use the property for both TV and film projects. The mega-streamer is planning a wide array of projects for Catan, including film and television, scripted and unscripted, and live-action and animated. Says Netflix head of scripted programming Jimmy Howe, “Anyone who has played Catan knows that the intense strategy at the core of the game has endless opportunities for some serious drama.”

Netflix signed the deal with French board game publisher Asmodee, who hold the Catan rights with Catan GmbH, a company run by the heirs of original Catan designer Klaus Teuber. In a joint statement, Benjamin and Guido Teuber added, “When our father Klaus Teuber first introduced Catan 30 years ago, he imagined an aspirational world where people would gather by trading, building and settling together — both at the table and beyond it. This collaboration with Netflix marks an exciting new chapter in that journey.” Catan has sold over 32 million copies worldwide, in 40 different languages.

What Is ‘Catan’?

First developed by German dental technician Klaus Teuber in 1995 as The Settlers of Catan, the game takes place on an uninhabited island with a variety of resource-rich lands. Players collect resources and build roads, settlements, and cities, competing against each other to collect Victory Points; however, they are also free to trade with each other, as well. However, their resources can be stolen from them by the Robber, who dwells in the island’s uninhabitable desert region and can bring a player from the brink of victory to the depths of defeat with a single roll of the dice. There have been a number of expansions and spin-offs of the game since its original release, including licensed variants based on Star Trek and Game of Thrones. The screen rights to the property were first acquired in 2015 by Gail Katz (Pawn Sacrifice), although no projects ever materialized.

Catan joins a number of popular board and card games in development at Netflix. They include The Werewolves of Millers Hollow, which was adapted into the film Family Pack last year; Exploding Kittens, which became an adult animated series; and an upcoming Monopoly reality series.

A number of projects based on the board game Catan are in development at Netflix.

via Collider