Splinter Cell: Deathwatch Review – Back In The Game

It’s nice to know Ubisoft haven’t completely forgotten Splinter Cell and its legacy to the stealth gaming genre. Sam Fisher is back in action, an aging relic, retired and living the quiet life – until an incident occurs on his property. With Sam’s help, can 4^th Echelon help stop another catastrophe? Let’s dive in and find out.

Splinter Cell: Deathwatch is available to watch on Netflix and was released to view in October 2025.

Splinter Cell was an enjoyable stealth series, often in competition with Metal Gear Solid. Javier Bonilla explored the remake of Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater in detail. 

Please note, spoilers for the show.

Story: Who Controls The Present Now, Controls The Past

Everyone: please meet Splinter Agent Zinnia McKenna. While on a mission for 4^th Echelon, she infiltrates an enemy stronghold in Lithuania, looking for a fellow agent who called for assistance. What she finds will haunt her. Soon we find a set of encrypted files which connect Sam with his old boss, Diana Shetland as well as her father, Sam’s mentor and friend, Douglas Shetland. Quite the family tangle.

However, from the beginning, Sam is out in the sticks in Poland, leading his best retired life – when he gets an unexpected guest. And his guest also comes with what seems to be a Private Military Company behind her, determined to get those files back. At any cost. And so begins a game of cat and mouse, with them both trying to stay alive and untangle the mystery.

Part of this mystery is, as stated, Diana Shetland. Still trying to step outside her father’s shadow, she leads Displace International with the help of her half-brother Charlie. She leads her team to announce a major revolution regarding alternative green energy where her company could potentially rule Europe. Will she be able to bring it fruition or will it burst into flames?

Splinter Cell: Deathwatch was an interesting watch from the start. With an intriguing premise, decent action to go to with a solid story regarding Sam’s relationships past and present, I enjoyed seeing this through to its conclusion.

Sam and Diana have a complicated relationship

Characters & Performances: Good Double Acts

Splinter Cell: Deathwatch’s focus is on Sam Fisher and Zinnia McKenna and both do a very good job. I appreciated hearing Liev Schreiber in the leading role, I thought he was a very good choice. The character is smart and the action was good, considering he is an “old man”. Kirby Howell-Baptiste as Zinnia was also good. And they worked well together.

I thought the two main leads worked well

4th Echelon

Sam’s old team were also solid. Janet Varney was Anna Grimsdottir, the head of 4^th Eschelon who also played a double act with Helen Hong as Jo Ahn. Both again were a solid watch. Their roles are more of a surveillance nature but help out. They’re helped out by a tech whizz named “Thunder”, Joel Oulette who has a smaller role but I liked him.

Sam’s team, Grim and Jo, play a small but pivotal role.

The Shetlands

Sam’s old boss is a focal point of the story. Kari Wahlgren is Diana Shetland, a strong, powerful leader with her own company. She has a complicated, strained relationship with Sam. There was plenty about the Shetlands’; from Diana’s father – Douglas – relationship with Sam as well, played by Kiff VandenHeuvel. He didn’t have many scenes but was instrumental in how the story plays out. History and personal stakes were very important.

Diana also has a half-brother, Charlie Shetland, played by Aleks Le. He doesn’t have a lot of screen time but is a very important character. You’re never sure of his motives.

The Last double act is the paramilitary company leads after Fisher and McKenna. I actually liked these two. Navid Negahban was Reza Karimi as the lead and is the calm, simmering rage type. Whereas Bella Dayne is Freya Niemeyer, who is a determined, almost loose cannon. I really liked her character. The constant thorn in the team’s side.

Splinter Cell: Deathwatch as you can see, actually has a stacked cast but I felt the show did well showing everyone enough coverage of everyone involved, which helped the show.

A lot of intrigue surrounds Diana Shetland and her half-brother, Charlie.

Music & Cinematography: Inventive At Times

Splinter Cell: Deathwatch has good music, but the sound is equally important. It was something I noticed that was deliberate. While the show has plenty of action, stealth is still the series’ primary focus and sound is apparent within a lot of the action scenes. The music mostly played during the action scenes or scenes and I really enjoyed it. However, there was sometimes some pulsing music, specifically with Diana’s scenes to add some “tension”.

Cinematography for the show is good. I wouldn’t say it was outstanding. It is an animated show, so it’s a little harder to gauge regarding real life locations, is what I mean. However, I thought the animation and art style was nice. I liked how Sam has a nice big, bushy beard like someone’s uncle.  One thing to stand out was the “past” scenes, which were done in black and white, which I liked. I thought the art style was nice, as well as the shots of certain town backdrops.

One difference on cinematography, particularly regarding the action, was shot composition. Things like when Zinnia enters an enemy guard room, who all are watching the football. The shot focuses on the football instead. And there was plenty of these sort of “focused” shot which I found different to the usual and I liked that.

Splinter Cell: Deathwatch’s cinematography for overhead city shots was beautiful

Editing & Pacing: Overall, Very Good

Splinter Cell: Deathwatch, even with all the characters involved, I felt it was an easy watch. Most episodes were around 22 minutes. Therefore, there isn’t much fat here. I always felt things moved forward with good momentum. Only caveat to this would be the penultimate episode. It’s part one of two and feel more like set up for the end.

Overall, Splinter Cell: Deathwatch is sharp and to the point.