Mike Goldberg, producer at Story Kitchen, confirmed LiS will have eight episodes, not six as previously rumored.
"And then we start shooting later this summer Square Enix's beloved franchise Life is Strange, as a live action drama series with an eight-episode order for Amazon MGM." (1:20)
Another notable quote is how Mike describes LiS:
"There's so many storylines. There's so much that happens: it's YA, it's coming-of-age, it's a love story, it's an LGBTQ+ story." (4:44)
Mike specifically calling Max and Chloe's story "a love story and LGBTQ+ story" pretty much confirms Pricefield (and Amberprice) will be canon.
I'm so relieved because I feel way more confident that the show team will have the time to fit in the entire story of LiS1 and maybe even expand it with flashbacks based on BtS and extra subplots based on cut content from LiS1. Just hoping for that slower pacing we all know and love and less second screen writing.
Still no confirmation whether it was ordered as a limited series or the first season of a multiple-season show. If it does well, maybe it'll get renewed for season 2, but no word yet what that would look like.
Thanks to @mal454 for sharing this on the LiS subreddit!
Other cool things that Mike said in this podcast episode:
Mike explained that with an adaptation, Story Kitchen starts by meeting with the game developer to see what they consider the core, unchangeable aspects of the source material, implying they met with Dontnod a decade ago.
Mike said that while LiS could've fit into a movie runtime, he felt like only 2 hours would've "lost too much of the emotional story," hence the series order (4:53)
Mike acknowledged, "No matter how we skin the cat, we're going to disappoint people who may have chosen something different." (5:18) This implies the show will be linear; we won't have Bandersnatch interactive-style storytelling or see multiple outcomes onscreen. They're probably going to stick to one outcome for major choices like romance, character deaths, etc. We don't know yet how they might tackle the ending, though.
The showrunner, Charlie Covell, is a real LiS fan has played every LiS game. There was a lot of worrying and rumors on social media that the "director hadn't played the game" based on misinformation: director Karyn Kusama stated that she watched the first game in a Polygon interview, but she is not the one writing the scripts; Charlie is, and Charlie has played all the games. The show team also has a "franchise bible" that Square Enix provided, so hopefully there won't be canon inconsistencies.
Mike said "it's all possible" (7:40) about whether LiS the show could expand to include LiS2, TC, etc. Seems like there's no confirmation yet and it depends on how well season 1 does. Mike said this was already their third attempt at pitching LiS to networks and it was, again, Charlie Covell's script for the pilot that impressed the people at Lucky Chap.
Mike stated that television budgets have gone down, which makes me wonder if that helped LiS get made, because it's always been a mid-tier AA franchise. It's not as graphically heavy and the contemporary setting means that the biggest VFX expenses are Max's rewind and the storm. Mike believes in character-driven stories for TV, which is exactly what LiS is: "Give me a great story."
Mike said, "If you don't believe in the creative team that makes the games or you don't believe in the vision, who cares about the numbers?" (20:33) That's a promising sign of how much he cares about LiS, since the execs at Square have only fixated on the sales numbers of the newest games.
Fellow Pricefielders and Life is Strange fans, avoid this server called Pricefield Haven (also known as New Pricefield Haven). They are extremely toxic and will bully you even if you like Pricefield for liking Double Exposure and Reunion or any games that aren’t Lis1. I’ve known multiple people (myself included and people I know) who have been harassed by members of this server just for liking a game or Pricefield headcanon they didn’t like. They attacked me for playing on an Xbox Series S. The server admin allows the majority of the server which is comprised of straight men to attack others for liking DE and Reunion but will openly mock men and queer people for criticizing the original even if there are valid points. They also have been prone to bully users on Reddit and other platforms. I wouldn’t be surprised if they find this post but if you like any of the d9 games don’t join this server. It’s a cesspool of negativity. If you are also a multishipper don’t join this server. I’ve made this post to raise awareness.
Someone told me on Reddit that "if I really am a queer woman" (which I am) I should check my internal homophobia and that I'm wrong (for saying that I appreciate both platonic and romantic readings for Pricefield). Bunch of bullies who most of them are straight cis men.
