Chiyomaru Shikura, formerly the chairman and executive director of Mages, shared some information of what could have been regarding a live-action adaptation of Steins;Gate. Apparently, there had been talks of a live-action show after the anime for the game ended. The deal ended up falling through due to disagreements over the main actor. [Thanks, Famitsu!]
Shikura had been very optimistic about the live-action show, because the producer who would have handled it was someone whose work he admired. He did not name the producer or the studio that would have worked on the live-action Steins;Gate adaptation. During discussions though, the studio stated that it wanted a Johnny’s actor to play protagonist Rintaro Okabe. Shikura joked that single request caused a divergence in the timeline.
Though Shikura likes Johnny’s, he thought it was an unreasonable request because he didn’t think a Johnny’s actor could fit as Okarin. But he decided to go ahead anyway and requested Tomoya Nagase, whom he thought could portray Okarin. However, the producer replied that they couldn’t get Nagase and the decision on who to cast was not in the producer’s hands anyway. As a result, Shikura decided to turn down the offer, and thus the Steins;Gate live-action drama never came to be.
Steins;Gate (the anime adaptation) is available on streaming services such as Crunchyroll. The original game is available on consoles such as the PS4 and mobile devices.
