Netflix's New 'Splinter Cell' Series Isn't the Franchise's First Mission on the Streamer Actorsvaultpro

It has been 12 long years since the last Splinter Cell video game was released. Sam Fisher has all but vanished from the minds of Ubisoft developers. Surprisingly, Netflix has taken on the mission of reintroducing the world to this NSA black ops agent. Premiering in October 2025, Splinter Cell: Deathwatch will have actor Liev Schreiber voice the title role in an animated, eight-episode first season.

The streaming platform seems to be sweeping something under the rug, though. Although Deathwatch is being promoted as something epic and tremendous, Sam Fisher has already made his animated debut on Netflix. By many accounts, this first iteration might even be the superior show. Enter one of Adi Shankar’s episodic creations from 2023, Captain Laserhawk: A Blood Dragon Remix.

Surprisingly, this six-episode dystopian story went much farther than just the small screen introduction of Splinter Cell’s Sam Fisher (along with his daughter, Sarah). Shankar also included several classic Ubisoft characters, like Rayman, Jade from 2003’s Beyond Good & Evil, and Marcus Holloway from 2016’s Watch Dogs 2. Set in the 1990s, Captain Laserhawk portrays the United States as a country controlled by megacorporations, where humans treat two-legged, anthropomorphic animals like slaves — and that’s just for starters.

Sam Fisher Has an Epic Sequence in ‘Captain Laserhawk’

Netflix

Admittedly, Sam Fisher’s daughter is the more proactive character in this show. She turns out to be the main antagonist, transforming into a giant cybernetic arachnid by the end of it all. However, Shankar gives the father, the more well-known character, ample time in the spotlight as well. There is an epic flashback sequence in the fourth episode, which involves a now-disabled Sam Fisher who has lost both of his legs. Even with a severe disability, he embarks on one final stealth mission to free fellow revolutionary Holloway from prison.

Even though Ubisoft Film and Television support both the previous and soon-to-be productions, it’s funny how both Deathwatch and Captain Laserhawk choose to show an aging Fisher instead of him in his prime. In addition to his trademark night vision goggles, Laserhawk compensates for Fisher’s age by equipping him with a jet-powered wheelchair and prosthetic legs that shoot laser beams.

There’s an elevator fight squeezed into the flashback that shows these in action, and it’s incredible to watch. Deathwatch will inevitably put a much more realistic arc on the character, as it’s all about Sam Fisher and no other mainstream video game names. However, Adi Shankar’s version could be far more enthralling. We also can’t forget about the untimely death of Sam, too. The creator of the show has no problem killing off characters you thought were death-proof (which could happen in Deathwatch, but is highly unlikely).

The most interesting part of Captain Laserhawk — and this is Shankar’s specialty — is his cliffhanger endings. When it looks like Dolph Laserhawk is down for the count and all hope is lost, Sam’s voice cuts through the darkness and revives a 16-bit version of the main character. If Captain Laserhawk did have a second season, the video game community’s favorite special ops agent would probably end up having an even better role than in the first six episodes. Some fans have pointed out that Dolph’s “respawn” screen at the end of the show says 2025, but with Deathwatch showcasing the character instead, who knows what will happen.

Not only has an official trailer and opening credit sequence for Deathwatch appeared on YouTube, but this 2025 anime has been hailed as the first official adaptation of the video game. Amid all the fanfare, it’s important to remember that Sam Fisher first appeared on-screen in Adi Shankar’s bold fusion of Ubisoft characters. Captain Laserhawk: A Blood Dragon Remix is available to stream anytime on Netflix.