‘Gears of War’ Locks and Loads Live-Action Movie and Animated Series at Netflix
The Gears of War movie adaptation is finally happening with Netflix taking the reins of the project and also planning an animated series and more.
A live-action adaptation of the popular video game shooter franchise has been in the works as far back as 2007, around the same time Halo was trying to lift off and plans for a BioShock movie (also revived by Netflix) started to take shape. Back then, New Line Cinema nabbed the rights to Microsoft and Epic Games’ brand-new first-party IP. The project has been reactivated and put to rest over the years with writers coming and going, but nothing solidified. Now, it seems like Gears of War is finally getting somewhere as Netflix is making a major push into the live-action territory with their abundant library of video game IPs.
Netflix’s announcement is brief, but also promises an adult animated series; a type of game adaptation that has found great success on the platform, with the latest example being Cyberpunk: Edgerunners. Moreover, Netflix is looking at the investment as a potential new franchise that could grow in parallel to the Gears of War video games (a sixth mainline entry is reportedly in development as we speak). It’s worth mentioning that Microsoft is now the sole owner of the IP after Epic sold it because “they ran out of ideas” — The Coalition is now the studio behind the main saga.
Actors Dave Bautista and Terry Crews have expressed interest over the years in joining a potential Gears of War adaptation as Marcus Fenix and Augustus Cole respectively, with the latter even collaborating with The Coalition for Gears 5 in a promotional capacity, so it’ll be interesting to see whether Netflix pays attention to them when the time comes to fill a cast packed with burly dudes that sweat bullets.
The original trilogy of games focuses on the conflict between an alternate humanity and the subterranean reptilian hominids known as the Locust on the world of Sera, an Earth-like planet ravaged by a millennia-long conflict. Gears of War 4 spawned a new trilogy headlined by a cast of younger characters who are gradually joined by the original protagonists (those who are still alive) to face a new subterranean menace.
Francisco J. Ruiz is that guy who has watched Jurassic Park a thousand times and loves Star Wars. His hunger for movies is only matched by his love for video games. He graduated in English Studies from the University of Malaga, in Spain. As he keeps writing about what he enjoys (and doesn’t) for websites all over, he’s continuing his studies.
