If you missed it a few months ago, we’re getting a television adaptation of David Kushner’s Masters of Doom – the 2003 account of id Software’s early days and the making of the iconic FPS. It’s still happening, and now we’ve got the first bits of the cast, including the actors who will portray John Carmack and John Romero.
Romero will be portrayed by Eduardo Franco, best known for his role in the comedy film Booksmart, and quite possibly the only actor on the planet capable of doing justice to Romero’s youthful hair. Patrick Gibson, who had a prominent role in the OA, will play John Carmack.
The character summaries provided by Deadline say that Romero is “a brilliant young programmer and designer determined to become the video game industry’s first rock star.,” and that Carmack “is a self-taught genius whose unparalleled programming skill allows him to help create the first-person-shooter genre – and lay the groundwork for the rise of virtual reality.” (So don’t count out the possibility that the series will someday start talking about Oculus, I guess.)
The rest of the cast will similarly be put in the roles of folks who were in and around id during the company’s real history. John Karna plays the “tragically lovable young game designer” Tom Hall. Jane Ackermann plays Hannah Romero, whose relationship with her husband is “pushed to its breaking point by his unrelenting focus on games.”
Siobhan Willams plays Stevie Case, “a brash and charismatic young woman who becomes one of the first female professional gamers – and John Romero’s girlfriend.” Finally, Peter Friedman is on board in a recurring role as Al Vekovious, owner of Softdisk – the company under which many of id’s founding members met.
As previously announced, the series is written and executive produced by Tom Bissell, who has plenty of credits and experience in the game industry – most recently as the lead writer for Gears 5. The pilot episode will be directed by Rhys Thomas, whose previous credits include Saturday Night Live, Documentary Now, and episodes of Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt.
At a minimum, the world is guaranteed one episode of Masters of Doom – whether USA Network, which ordered the pilot, picks the show up as a full series remains to be seen.