Portal & Half-Life Movies Are Still Coming

While the world may never see another Half-Life sequel, fans of Valve’s classic franchise might take solace in the possibility of films based on the game.

Participating in a Reddit Ask Me Anything thread (via Polygon), Valve honcho Gabe Newell gave a brief status update regarding the films.

When asked if there were still plans to make movies based on Half-Life and Portal, Newell responded to the question with a post simply saying, “Yep. They’re coming.”

Word on the street’s been quiet about the potential films—and everything else regarding Half-Life and Portal—with the last update coming from J.J. Abrams last September.

At a premier event for Westworld, Abrams told IGN he was having “interesting discussions with writers.”

“Once you said you’re doing a movie or show about a specific thing that is a known quantity you start to find people who are rabid about these things,” Abrams elaborated. “As someone who loves playing Half-Life and Portal, what’s the movie of this, it’s incredible when you talk to someone who just ‘gets’ it, it’s like, oh my god, it’s really the seed for this incredible tree you’re growing.”

Abrams said that a meeting with Valve was imminent and added, “I’m hoping that there will be a Portal announcement fairly soon.”

But after that, the typical radio silence was back in play. Until Newell’s AMA thread, that is. Andas with all things Gaben, such a simple response caused the monstrous rumor mill to churn once again in earnest.

He joked that he is not allowed to talk about anything having to do with the number three, and added that every anonymously-sourced news report on the internet is true.

Newell responded positively to questions about Valve producing new single-player video games as well as the potential for a new intellectual property based in the world of Half-Life and Portal.

Portal and its sequel take place in a testing lab created by the fictional company Aperture Science. A rogue A.I. named GLaDOS takes over the facility and forces a test subject named Chell to participate in a series of tests with a working ‘portal gun,’ a device that creates portals on flat surfaces.

In Half-Life 2: Episode 2, player character Gordon Freeman learns of the existence and location of an Aperture Science research vessel that once disappeared, hinting that the portal technology might have something to do with its fate. The game ended without a payoff for this story thread, and Valve has yet to release a Half-Life game since.

Whether anything actually comes from the latest news is anyone’s guess. It could be more wheel-spinning and misinformation from Newell, who is famously tight lipped regarding the projects Valve is currently working on. But Abrams has successfully established many franchises in television and film, so giving him the reins might work out for Valve’s cherished properties.

But at this rate, it might be a safe bet that we’ll see Half-Life: The Movie before Half-Life 3.