Broken Sword is a franchise centered on a series of adventure games. The first game in the series, Broken Sword: The Shadow of the Templars, was released in 1996 by English video game company Revolution Software. The first sequel, Broken Sword II: The Smoking Mirror, was released a year later, and was followed by three more sequels: Broken Sword: The Sleeping Dragon in 2003, Broken Sword: The Angel of Death in 2006, and Broken Sword 5: The Serpent's Curse in 2013. A remake of the first game in the series, known as Broken Sword: Shadow of the Templars – The Director's Cut, was released in 2009, and a remake of the second game in the series, Broken Sword: The Smoking Mirror – Remastered. The main protagonists of the series are George Stobbart, an American patent lawyer, and Nicole "Nico" Collard, a French freelance journalist, although Nico does not appear as a playable character in the original game The Shadow of the Templars. The Broken Sword series was originally conceived in 1994 by Charles Cecil, Noirin Carmody and Sean Brennan, while talking about the mythology of the Knights Templar. The first three games in the series were all developed by Revolution Software, while the fourth game was co-developed by Revolution and Sumo Digital. The Shadow of the Templars and The Smoking Mirror were critical and commercial successes selling millions, while The Sleeping Dragon and The Angel of Death received mixed reviews and were not as popular as the first two games mainly due to the switch to 3D graphics and that the third game left the "point and click" interface to a more action oriented gameplay. The series appeared on several top adventure game lists. A comic book was produced for each remake of the first two Broken Sword games. In 2007, it was revealed that a Broken Sword film was in the works and would be produced by CastleBright studios, although there has been no sign of development for many years which may indicate that the project has been abandoned.