It's been a big month for Persona fans. As the series celebrates its 30th anniversary, Sega and Atlus revealed the release date for Persona 4 Revival and gave us our first look at Persona 6. And it doesn't stop there.
According to a new report, Atlus has greenlit a Persona TV series, which will be directed by Star Trek: Picard writer Christopher Monfette and supported by Sega's own Toru Nakahara.
A new Persona TV series is coming to Netflix (???)
According to Variety, Atlus and Netflix will collaborate on a live-action Persona TV series. Monfette will write the adaptation and serve as executive producer and showrunner, while Shawn Levy, Dan Levine and Robert Atwood of 21 Laps (Stranger Things) will produce.
On Sega's side, Toru Nakahara will provide support. Nakahara is credited as a producer on Sega's other recent adaptation success, with Sonic the Hedgehog, Sonic the Hedgehog 2, Sonic Prime, Knuckles, and Sonic the Hedgehog 3.
It's clear that Sega wants to push more of its IP to the screen. In 2024, it released Like a Dragon: Yakuza, an Amazon Prime show based on its Japanese crime series, and it has also been confirmed that there will be an adult animated comedy based on Golden Axe.
Persona itself is no stranger to adaptations. While this will be the series' first foray into the world of live-action, it has had several anime spin-offs. Persona 3 had a series of four movies released after the game's launch, including Spring of Birth, Midsummer Knight's Dream, Falling Down, and Winter of Rebirth.
Persona 4 then received two anime series. The first ran for 25 episodes, focusing on the protagonist Yu Narukami. The second ran for 12 episodes and adapted the Persona 4 Golden storyline, featuring characters introduced in this version of the game.
Before Persona 5's release, it received a one-episode prologue anime, and two years later it received a 26-episode series covering the main campaign. It's unclear which game, if any, this new series will cover but given its popularity, you'd have to imagine it's Persona 5.
As a huge Persona fan, I'm very skeptical of what's cooking here. The reasons the games are so well received are the decisions players have to make, whether it's which social links to explore or how to spend their limited free time. Without this, I fear the real hook of Persona will be lost.
