We've had to wait a few years to see the next film from Moon, Mute and Source Code director Duncan Jones. Though it has been official since 2018that he's working on an adaptation of the 2000AD comic Rogue Trooper, and posted a few updates, things have been quiet on the official news front. That all changed today with word that not only is it animated, and already wrapped the main portion of its production, but that the cast includes Aneurin Barnard, Hayley Atwell and Slow Horses' Jack Lowden.
Perhaps the most intriguing aspect, and one we're sure Jones will expand upon as editing continues, is that the animation was crafted using Unreal Engine 5, Jones collaborating with Treehouse Digital to bring the film to life.
And the writer/director has built quite the ensemble around his main trio, with Daryl McCormack, Reece Shearsmith, Jemaine Clement, Matt Berry, Diane Morgan, Alice Lowe, Asa Butterfield and Sean Bean all part of the cast.
As created for 2000AD by Dave Gibbons and Gerry Finley-Day, the Rogue Trooper comics follow a "Genetic Infantryman", who ends up the vengeful sole survivor of an invasion force on Nu-Earth in a war between the Norts and Southers. Now on a mission to find the traitorous General who sold him and his fellow troopers out, the super soldier is accompanied by three killed-in-action squad mates, whose personalities have been stored in his gun, helmet and rucksack. Cue chatty back-and-forth between the four and some bone-crunching violence at times.
"2000AD offers a very different flavour of comic action: Political and brutal at times, but always with a Pythonesque twinkle in the eye," says Jones in a statement. "Dredd was a taste of what 2000AD 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."
The film should be on our screens in 2025 and we can't wait.