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Secret Level faced major hurdles in getting video game companies on board the project. Game developers are now more keen on entrusting their IPs after Season 1's breakout success.

Secret Level creator Tim Miller addressed fan backlash over the anthology's featured IPs. Season 1 only had 15 episodes, so it's a given some fans will not see their favorite video games adapted. Outside of budget constraints, Miller revealed that many of the video companies they approached didn't want to lend their properties, or they were hesitant at the very least. "I get a little chafed when I read online, and they're like, 'Hold on, these a**holes took Spelunky when they could have taken Halo?' Or something like that," he told Collider. "I'm like, 'Man, you think that we didn't talk to Halo or something?'" He confirmed that Season 1 originally had 18 episodes slated, but "there were some that fell out...

The creators of Prime Video's Secret Level anthology series recently discussed how they were able to get Keanu Reeves to take part in an episode. Reeves proved to be dedicated to his role, despite significant challenges in the shooting.

Secret Level's first season aired earlier this month on Prime Video with an all-star voice cast including Arnold Schwarzenegger, Kevin Hart, and more. Each episode contains a story set in the worlds of different video games, including Dungeons & Dragons, Unreal Tournament and Honor of Kings. Speaking to Collider, the show's creator, Tim Miller, and executive producer Dave Wilson spoke about what it was like getting Keanu Reeves to sign on for Secret Level's Armored Core episode.

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Secret Level could serve as proof of concept for movie or TV adaptations of Mega Man, Warhammer, and Armored Core. The latter would be even more appealing if Keanu Reeves reprised his role.

Armored Core fans were in for a special treat with Secret Level's 13th episode; Keanu Reeves channeled both Johnny Mnemonic and Neo in "Armored Core: Asset Management", a 14-minute animated short about a mech pilot with questionable motivations. Staging fast-paced mech fights against the backdrop of a dystopian, alien world, the episode was also defined by Reeves' hyperreal semblance and his stoic, John Wick voice. Speaking to The Wrap, executive producer Dave Wilson said he thought Reeves would exit the project at one point; the actor was then scheduled for motion capture at the studio.

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Secret Level broadened the lore of the video games featured in its adaptations. Its lineup included a Concord episode, which offered a glimpse of the Sony IP's unrealized potential.

Secret Level creator Tim Miller said they never considered shelving the Concord episode. In an interview with The Wrap, he asserted the show was meant to transcend any controversy surrounding the video game IPs they featured. "I just wish everybody would realize that it's a bunch of artists and good people trying to make something interesting," he explained. "Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't, and people tend to make it some kind of personal quest, or feel like it's an affront to them personally. But they're just artists trying to do a great job, and they're super nice, and I'm sorry to see anybody fail and that that, I think it's not quite worthy of some of the toxicity around it.

Secret Level is a love letter to generations of video game enthusiasts. Series creator Tim Miller said their first big challenge was finding game companies who were up for the task.

Secret Level set out to feature as many game IPs as possible, which meant securing permission from the companies who owned them. Series creator Tim Miller said that was easier said than done. "These guys are all competitors mostly, so we have to get them all on the same train, going in the same direction," he told The Wrap. Fortunately, Miller's visual effects company Blur Studio is a key player in the video game industry; they remade cutscenes for Halo: The Master Chief Collection and developed cinematic trailers for three Batman: Arkham titles, among others.

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Video game adaptations are slowly becoming the next big thing, following the success of Fallout, Arcane, and The Last of Us. But those shows only adapt a single video game. Prime Video's Secret Level says that's not enough. Like your little cousin accidentally spending $1000 on loot boxes, Secret Level is trying to collect everything. The animated anthology features 15 episodes telling new original stories from some of the most popular modern video games (and Concord). But the side-quest to get all the video game developers to agree to appear in the series was a hardcore game mode in itself.

"We wanted to represent the broad spectrum of gaming, from indie, nostalgia titles to Triple A blockbusters, but also past, present and future games, horror games, science fiction, fantasy," said executive producer Dave Wilson during an interview with The Wrap. The new anthology certainly does that, with episodes bouncing between Warhammer 40k...

Fans of the new Amazon series Secret Level are getting some good news. After the first season found immediate success on streaming, Amazon has officially renewed Secret Level for Season 2.

Per Variety, Secret Level was renewed for a second season just one week after the launch of its first eight episodes on Dec. 10, coinciding with the drop of the season's second half on Dec. 17. Details about Season 2, such as which video games will inspire the new episodes, have not been revealed. The renewal comes after Amazon touted the success of Secret Level, announcing that the series had set a record as the most-watched animated series debut of all time for Prime Video. Reportedly, viewership for the series was at around 155.3 million minutes in its first week, though exact numbers haven't been divulged by Amazon.

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If you’re anything like us, then you love video games. You love it even more when those games are successfully adapted into movies and TV shows, as the case has been lately with such hits as The Last of Us, Fallout, and Twisted Metal. Now we can add another series to that list, as the animated show Secret Level has managed to be a smash with viewers thus far, catapulting it to the top of the charts.

Premiering on Prime Video on Dec. 10, Secret Level is now the number one show on the streaming service ahead of other recent debuts, including Pop Culture Jeopardy, Cross, The Sticky, and the reboot of Cruel Intentions. It’s no surprise really, especially when you consider who are all involved in the project. Secret Level features the voice talents of heavy hitters like Arnold Schwarzenegger, Patrick Schwarzenegger, Kevin Hart, Laura Bailey, and Keanu Reeves.

Prime Video has revealed the release date and episode list for the remaining episodes in Secret Level Season 1. From the creators of Love, Death + Robots, the new anthology series takes 15 different video games and creates fresh stories using their worlds or characters. As opposed to the usual streaming release of all episodes being available at once, the Secret Level creators decided to release the 15-episode series in two parts, to hopefully allow the series to gain traction before releasing the remaining episodes.

Episodes 1 through 8 were released to viewers on December 10, including episodes based on popular video games like Dungeons & Dragons, Sifu, New World, Warhammer 40,000, and Armored Core. The independent short stories range from 10 to 20 minutes long, keeping the episodes short and sweet. With a stellar voice cast stacked with stars, including Arnold Schwarzenegger, Keanu Reeves, Kevin Hart, Temuera Morrison, and Gabriel Luna, the video game anthology series has...