Backrooms Director Eyeing A Portal Movie, But He’s Cautious About Adaptations
Kane Parsons, the 20-year-old director behind Backrooms, one of 2026’s biggest films, has expressed strong interest in adapting Valve’s Portal as his next project. According to The New York Times, Parsons described a Portal film as a “dream” project and told The Town podcast that he is approaching the concept with “a lot of caution and a lot of curiosity.”
Rather than indiscriminately pursuing high-profile intellectual properties, Parsons is deliberately selective about which projects he takes on. He has publicly stated his lack of interest in directing Star Wars, explaining that he is only drawn to select IPs from his childhood in the 2000s. He is currently exploring these options but has not publicly named them.
Beyond Backrooms, Parsons is also developing the film into a television series. Valve has expressed interest in game-to-film and game-to-television adaptations since 2013, when the company announced it was investigating bringing both Portal and Half-Life to the screen.