Personally, I've never played the Catan board game and thought 'wow, they should make a movie out of this!' Klaus Teuber's tabletop classic may have helped kickstart the modern board gaming industry, but that's not thanks to its riveting story. Nevertheless, Netflix sees potential in not one but several adaptations.
According to Variety, Netflix is producing a Catan movie and projects across both scripted and unscripted TV. This apparently covers both live action and animation, too.
The streaming giant has gone all in on the longest road, and I can't help but ask 'why?'. Everyone respects what Catan did for the industry, but it's far from being considered the best board game on the market right now. Its basic strategy doesn't naturally lend itself to grand, unforgettable narratives.
Who - outside of corporate executives looking for a way to monetize a brand - actually asked for this? It certainly wasn't the average Netflix user, whose familiarity with board games starts with Monopoly and ends with Cards Against Humanity. It also wasn't the hardcore gamer, who would rather see an epic film based on Twilight Imperium or Gloomhaven, perhaps.
Nobody asked for Netflix's take on Catan, but we're still getting it. Given the inevitability of the situation, I've decided to take matters into my own hands - and take a stab at predicting what content the streaming machine is going to spit out.
Catan: The Reality Game Show
Likelihood: 100%
Netflix, in a desperate bid to compete with shows like The Traitors, is a bit obsessed with game shows at the moment. About two weeks ago, it announced a reality game series based on murder mystery classic Clue. A month before that, the streaming service revealed it was making a Monopoly game show. Where will the madness end?!
Given that Netflix made a point of mentioning unscripted TV in its original announcement, a Catan reality show isn't a question of 'if'. It's 'when'. I'd personally like to see players attempt to rob each other while standing on a giant Catan board. Maybe the waters around the island are real, and you get pushed in if you lose, Takeshi's Castle style.
Catan of Thrones
Likelihood: 60%
Let's be real; every streaming service wants to be behind the next Game of Thrones. Amazon had a go with Rings of Power, but that didn't quite take off. Netflix's most recent attempt was probably The Witcher, and the hype around that has died out quite significantly since Warhammer 40k superfan Henry Cavill departed. The arena is ripe for another gritty fantasy series.
Luckily for Netflix, Catan already has plenty of gritty lore to build on. No, I'm being serious.
Back in 2003, Rebecca Gable wrote a Catan novel, and that's the closest thing we've got to official lore. That official lore focuses on ancient Norse sailors settling the island of Catan. There's tensions between the Christian and Norse religions, sex, slavery, suicide, and an erupting volcano. There's also a very weird execution scene, where the settlers of Catan try to jam a reed with a snake inside a person's throat so the snake can eat the victim from the inside. Gnarly.
The main thing I see stopping Catan of Thrones coming to life is the budget you'd need for a live action adaptation. However, an animated version might still be on the cards. That might be more in line with Netflix's Castlevania or Amazon's The Legend of Vox Machina.
Got your own predictions for Netflix Catan? Tell us in the Wargamer Discord. Or, if you'd like some new board games to check out, give our dedicated guide a read.