Image: VIZ Media

The live-action Naruto movie adaptation has found a new writer under Lionsgate. 

Lionsgate first announced that it was officially making a live-action movie adaptation of the hit manga franchise Naruto back in 2015, and it hasn’t given up on the project yet. Work on the movie has been slow going, but a new report from Variety has revealed that Tasha Huo, the showrunner of an upcoming Tomb Raider animated series is writing the movie. 

Huo has a history of working with established IP, with projects in The Witcher, Mighty Nein, Red Sonja and Tomb Raider franchises all under her belt. 

Wait, Naruto is getting a live-action adaptation? Since when?

Lionsgate first revealed its live-action Tomb Raider film in 2015, with Sony Pictures’ Avi Arad producing and Michael Gracey (The Greatest Showman) announced to direct. Naruto creator Masashi Kishimoto announced that he’d been asked to supervise the project in 2016, but work on the project seemingly stalled in the years since. 

In the first real update since the movie’s original announcement, Variety reports that the project has gained a screenwriter in Tasha Huo. Huo cut her teeth writing episodes of The Witcher: Blood Origin in 2022, before moving onto adaptations of Marvel’s Red Sonja, and a TV adaptation of Critical Role’s Mighty Nein campaign. Most recently, she acted as showrunner for Netflix’s upcoming animated Tomb Raider series. 

Seeing as the project has suddenly come alive after years of stagnation, it looks like Lionsgate is now keen to get the ball rolling on its production. In the Variety report, Huo notes her love for writing established characters:

Adapting iconic characters or IP makes the writing of it easier, because the passion for writing it is already there. I’m so inspired by these characters already that it’s exciting to just take a part of their journey and try to tell that fun story in a way that would appeal to me as a fan.

Alongside this Naruto movie, Avi Arad is also working on a live-action movie adaptation of The Legend of Zelda with Nintendo.