Netflix’s live-action Gundam has been quietly building into one of the more intriguing sci-fi swings on the horizon, mainly because it’s got a lot of elements that get people interested. You’ve got Sydney Sweeney, big robots, a space war, and a franchise with a huge global fanbase that’s been waiting a long time to see this thing done properly. Now it’s taken another big step forward. Production has officially started in Queensland, Australia, and the cast has filled out in a major way, with Jason Isaacs joining the lineup.

Netflix announced that the movie is now officially in production, with Jim Mickle writing and directing the adaptation for Legendary in partnership with Bandai Namco Filmworks, and shooting underway down in New Zealand. The film is being described as an original story set during a lengthy war between Earth and its space colonies, following rival mech pilots on opposite sides of the conflict as shifting loyalties and a larger threat pull them into a race that could decide humanity’s fate. It’s a smart way into Gundam for a wider audience, especially since it gives the movie room to feel familiar to longtime fans without forcing it to be a straight retread.

Who Stars in ‘Gundam’?

The cast is pretty insane too. Gundam stars Sweeney (The Housemaid, Euphoria), Noah Centineo (Street Fighter, Warfare), Jackson White (Tell Me Lies, Mrs. Fletcher), Shioli Kutsuna (Deadpool & Wolverine, Invasion), Nonso Anozie (Sweet Tooth, Game of Thrones), Michael Mando (Better Call Saul, Spider-Man: Homecoming), Javon “Wanna” Walton (Under the Bridge, Euphoria), Oleksandr Rudynskyi (The Agency, All Quiet on the Western Front), Ida Brooke (Dune: Part Three, Silo), Gemma Chua-Tran (Heartbreak High, One Night), and Isaacs (Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, The White Lotus).

Gundam is now in production.

via Collider