Three new trademarks seemingly related to Hitman have been filed by Twentieth Century Fox, which means it's possible that the long-awaited Hitman TV series might be finally be seeing the light of day. The IO Interactive-owned franchise is still riding high after the launch of Hitman: Freelancer and the victory lap renaming of Hitman: World of Assassination, and with the success of other game-to-series repackages like The Last of Us still fresh in everyone's mind now would the perfect time to begin building anticipation for Hulu's Hitman TV show. It appears like Disney, the parent company of Twentieth Century, may feel the same way.
The trademarks (which can be viewed on the United States Patent and Trademark Office's website) are for HITMAN: CODENAME 47, HITMAN: DEATH AWAITS, and HITMAN: ABSOLUTION, and are all classified as "Entertainment services in the nature of a television and multimedia program." There's only been one Hitman show announced to the public, so it's unclear which of these three titles relate to the television show and which could perhaps relate to other topics. It's also possible Twentieth Century Fox wanted to make sure its options were open and that no one else trademarks anything related to the Hitman brand.
In 2017, Deadline reported the Hitman television series would get a pilot script from John Wick's Derek Kolstad. In the years since, Kolstad has delivered exceptional films like Nobody and John Wick: Chapter 4.
Interestingly, all of these names have been used before. Hitman: Codename 47 was the full title of the first game when it released in 2000, and Hitman: Absolution is the moniker of the most divisive entry in the entire franchise. There has never been a video game strictly called Hitman: Death Awaits, but Death Awaits itself was the promotional tagline leading up to the launch of Hitman 3 in 2021, as shown in the official announcement trailer below:
Of the three, Absolution is the most curious inclusion. Unlike most games in the Hitman series, Absolution's structure as a linear story might make it easier to base a season-long arc of television on than other Hitman releases, but long-time fans of the IP prefer the open-ended and open-world design of the currenty trilogy. Hitman: Absolution streamlined a lot of systems past Hitman players had come to expect, and while many of its ideas can still be seen in Hitman games from 2016 and onwards, it would make sense to eschew it in favor of more unifying titles.
Hitman: Death Awaits or Hitman: Codename 47?
Codename 47 and Death Awaits are both much more likely to end up as the name of the Hitman TV show than Absolution. Death Awaits gives the air of something more procedural, where each episode sees 47 traveling to a new, Bond-like location and taking out a different target, as literal "death coming for them all." Codename 47, on the other hand, evokes an origin story, one which follows 47 himself more closely and is peppered with flashbacks to training and cloning facilities. Either would work, but one is clearly better than the other.
The two previous movies - Hitman in 2007 and Hitman: Agent 47 in 2015 - didn't quite hit the mark in terms of adapting the tone and feel of video game to the screen, and the lack of a third Hitman movie was likely a smart choice. Codename 47 was a great subtitle for the original game, but with Agent 47 already existing as a movie title it feels like a little too much repetition. Hitman: Death Awaits is much more original and unique, and (to me, at least) seems like the best choice.
What IO Interactive Said About The Hitman TV Show
In 2021, Screen Rant spoke to Hitman 3 director Mattias Engström on what his version of a Hitman television show would look like. His answer lines up with the feeing Hitman: Death Awaits evokes, stating:
I kind of liked the idea of having each episode [be] its own thing where there is a party and somewhere you're following some characters and in the background there's someone who hunts, but you don't know, you're not really following Agent 47 or the Hitman. They're in there somewhere and you're trying to find them as you watch the characters that the episode is about, you know what I mean? There's like a monster somewhere that is going to peak out.
Whether Hitman: Death Awaits (or Codename 47, or maybe even Absolution) is the true title of Hulu's Hitman TV show remains to be seen. The appearance of these trademarks, however, definitely gives the impression something interesting is coming soon. Screen Rant has reached out to Hulu for comment.