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Chiyomaru Shares Story of Scrapped Japanese Live-Action Steins;Gate Adaptation

Back in 2020, the Science ADV franchise announced that Steins;Gate would getting a live-action television adaptation in Hollywood. Long before that, however, there were plans for a live-action adaptation in Japan. This project was never announced, but MAGES. executive producer Chiyomaru Shikura revealed on Twitter last Thursday the context behind the scrapped adaptation.

Chiyomaru wrote that he was approached about a live-action adaptation around the time the Steins;Gate anime finished airing. A producer from a commercial broadcaster, whom Chiyomaru describes as being responsible for "big hits," approached him because Chiyomaru was a big fan of their work.

Chiyomaru recalled that their initial email exchanges were very enjoyable, and that he dedicated all of his time to proposing a plot that would work for live-action. But things began to fall apart when he received a message about the casting: "Please cast a member of Johnny & Associates as Rintarō Okabe."

"This was when the worldline diverged," Chiyomaru commented, referencing the time travel mechanics in Steins;Gate. He remarked that this was the first time he felt that the arrangement was unfair. Although he described himself as a fan of many Johnny's talents, he did not feel that they were compatible with Steins;Gate. Still, after putting some thought into it, he decided that he could go ahead with it as long as Tomoya Nagase was the lead. His request was flatly denied, however, and that was the end of that.

As for the Hollywood live-action adaptation, there has been no further news about it since the initial announcement in 2020. Skydance Television (Altered Carbon, Grace & Frankie, Jack Ryan) is producing the project. According to the announcement, the project will stream worldwide as a television series "soon."

Skydance Television had announced in 2016 that it was working on a live-action Sword Art Online series. It hired Patrick Massett and John Zinman (Friday Night Lights executive producers, Lara Croft: Tomb Raider writers) for the pair to serve as writers, showrunners, and executive producers for it and other projects in 2017. Another writer and executive producer, Laeta Kalogridis (Altered Carbon), said in 2018 that the series has been sold to Netflix, and that "Kirito and Asuna will be played by Asian actors."

The Steins;Gate game shipped in 2009 and inspired a television anime in 2011. It also inspired the Steins;Gate – The Movie – Load Region of Déjà Vu sequel film in 2013 and the alternate retelling anime Steins;Gate 0 in 2018.

Source: Chiyomaru Shikura's Twitter account (Link 2) (Link 3) (Link 4) via Hachima Kikо̄