The super soldier, known as 19, is the only survivor of an invasion force except for the personality of three killed-in-action squad mates stored in his gun, helmet and rucksack.
Rogue Trooper is a comic by Dave Gibbons (Watchmen, Kingsman) and writer Gerry Finley-Day (Dan Dare) from Rebellion the 2000 AD publishers of Judge Dredd, Halo Jones and Slaine.
It’s Duncan Jones, the director of Moon, Source Code and Warcraft) who is making the film with Rebellion, and they’ve teamed up with Treehouse Digital (The Well), who are creating all the imagery and animation in Unreal Engine 5. That means Rogue Trooper went from 2000 AD series to RPG and now to Machinima feature length.
Aneurin Barnard (The Goldfinch, Dunkirk) stars as the eponymous Rogue Trooper, alongside Hayley Atwell (Captain America: The First Avenger, Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One), Jack Lowden (Slow Horses, Dunkirk), Daryl McCormack (Bad Sisters, Good Luck To You Leo Grande), and Reece Shearsmith (Inside No. 9, Saltburn). The actors will be filmed at Rebellion’s studios in Oxfordshire.
Impressively, the animated sci-fi will also feature Jemaine Clement (Avatar 2: The Way of Water), Matt Berry (What We Do in the Shadows), Diane Morgan (Cunk on Earth), Alice Lowe (Black Mirror), Asa Butterfield (Sex Education, Hugo) and Sean Bean (Game of Thrones, The Lord of the Rings).
Duncan Jones told the press;
“2000 AD offers a very different flavour of comic action: Political and brutal at times, but always with a Pythonesque twinkle in the eye. Dredd (2012) was a taste of what 2000 AD has to offer and now we get to show the world another side of the beast. It is a genuine privilege to be given the opportunity to make Rogue Trooper.”
Producer Stuart Fenegan added:
The advancements in Unreal Engine 5 and the inclusion of MetaHuman rigs mean that it is now possible to achieve a very high standard of animation within an indie budget. Working with our amazing partners at Rebellion, Epic and Treehouse Digital we are pioneering and developing a new creative pipeline that will enable independent production of CG animated films.”
Rebellion CEO, tabletop gamer and historian Jason Kingsley CBE, who is a Producer on Rogue Trooper, noted:
We are thrilled to be working with Duncan Jones, who is a fellow British creative visionary and 2000 AD fan with global reach. Rogue Trooper highlights Rebellion’s leading position within the entertainment industries. It has been filmed at our dedicated Oxfordshire film studios and combines beautiful storytelling from our iconic 2000 AD comic book universe with animation and production technology from the video game industry. We cannot wait for everyone to see these incredible stories bought to life on screen.”
The movie is due to wrap in 2025, and it’s unknown whether Sean Bean’s character will survive.
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