As one of the best-selling franchises in gaming history, particularly on the Xbox 360, Gears of War has long been the subject of a major film adaptation. Four years ago, it became clear that this much-anticipated project was finally gaining serious momentum as it entered development for streaming on Netflix, bringing fans unprecedented excitement for what’s to come. An even more thrilling update is making headlines now following the recent Xbox Showcase, which celebrated the brand’s impressive 25th anniversary.
In November 2022, 15 years after a Gears of War film was originally announced, Netflix took on the project in collaboration with video game developer The Coalition. The following year, Dune trilogy writer Jon Spaihts boarded the project as a writer, while David Leitch (Deadpool 2, Bullet Train) was announced as director last year. Ever since, many have wondered which storylines from the game could be featured in the film as well as which characters would appear.
A new game-changing report has finally provided the answer. This Gears of War movie will tell “the origin story of Delta Squad, a ragtag crew of soldiers who wage a desperate war for survival against the Locust, a race of subterranean creatures set on destroying humanity.” Matt Booty, Xbox‘s Executive Vice President and Chief Content Officer, further teased about the film:
“The game really is about the bonds between teams. It’s about brotherhood at its core. When you go visit the studio, their tagline is ‘Never Fight Alone.’ So when you think about that for a dramatic narrative, it’s a pretty good starting point.”
Netflix’s ‘Gears of War’ Movie Will Tell a Different Story
The latest plot detail places the movie’s timeline before the events of the first Gears of War video game, which was released for the Xbox 360 in North America on November 7, 2006, and later for Microsoft Windows on June 11, 2007. Set on the planet Sera, an alternate Earth-like world, the original Gears of War primarily follows Marcus Fenix, a COG soldier in the 14-year war against a monstrous subterranean race called the Locust. For those unfamiliar with the sci-fi game, COG is an acronym for Coalition of Ordered Governments, which comprises nations that prospered, whose soldiers are referred to as “Gears.” Locust, on the other hand, is a humanoid race from the Hollow (vast underground caverns beneath Sera’s surface).
As the dystopian story goes, Fenix was imprisoned for launching an unauthorized rescue mission to save his father, but was pardoned because the COG’s ranks were critically depleted by the war. From there, he reunites with his best friend Dominic Santiago in Delta Squad and sets out on a pivotal mission to test the COG’s new weapon of mass destruction against the Locusts.
via Collider