Last November, Netflix announced its plans to adapt the Gears of War video game franchise into both a live-action TV series and a feature film. We hadn’t heard much about the adaptations since then, but on Tuesday, Netflix revealed that Jon Spaihts (Dune, Doctor Strange) will write the script for the movie, which still doesn’t have a release date.
Gears of War live-action movie gets a writer
“Gears of War is one of the all-time great action games,” said Jon Spaihts, “with vivid characters, a beautifully designed world, and a combat system that drives home the lethality of war and the importance of standing by your squadmates. It wants to be cinema, and I’m thrilled to have the chance to help that happen.”
Spaihts has plenty of experience with sci-fi storytelling, having written the scripts for Prometheus, Passengers, Doctor Strange, and Dune. He worked on the screenplay for Dune: Part Two as well, which is set to hit theaters on November 3, 2023.
Here’s the synopsis for Netflix’s upcoming Gears of War movie: “Gears of War follows humanity’s last stand against the Locust Horde, a monstrous threat from below. Led by disgraced sergeant Marcus Fenix, a ragtag fire team known as Delta Squad is the only thing defending what’s left of society from total collapse as they face the enemy on the hostile planet Sera.”
Gears of War is a third-person shooter that first launched on Xbox 360 in 2006. The game was a hit for Microsoft and ended up spawning multiple sequels, prequels, novels, comics, and even a board game. Gears 5, the most recent mainline entry in the series, takes place decades after the first game and is the first to feature a female main character.
“We’re thrilled to partner with Jon and the Netflix team to bring Gears of War to life,” said Gears of War developer The Coalition. “Jon is a master storyteller with a talent for creating epic science fiction universes and he truly loves Gears of War. We couldn’t ask for a better partner to honor our franchise and deliver an authentic story to our fans.”
