Gears of War Movie Gets Marvel and Dune Screenwriter

Netflix’s upcoming movie based on the Gears of War video game has now snagged a screenwriter that is associated with Marvel and 2020’s Dune. Near the end of 2022, Netflix announced that it was collaborating with Xbox and The Coalition to develop both a movie and an animated series associated with Gears of War. Since that time, no further news on either project has come about, which has led to some fans wondering when more details might drop. Fortunately, that silence has today ended in a pretty major way. 

Revealed in a press release from Netflix, Jon Spaihts has now been tapped to write Gears of War. Previously, Spaihts served as the co-writer on Dune (for which he was nominated for an Academy Award) and also has written its upcoming sequel, Dune: Part Two. When it comes to his time with Marvel, Spaihts served as one of the co-writers on 2016’s Doctor Strange. Spaihts has also written other films like Prometheus and Passengers, to name a few. 

“Gears of War is one of the all-time great action games, with vivid characters, a beautifully designed world, and a combat system that drives home the lethality of war and the importance of standing by your squadmates,” Spaihts himself said in a statement. “It wants to be cinema, and I’m thrilled to have the chance to help that happen.”  

“We’re thrilled to partner with Jon and the Netflix team to bring Gears of War to life,” The Coalition said of this move. “Jon is a master storyteller with a talent for creating epic science fiction universes and he truly loves Gears of War. We couldn’t ask for a better partner to honor our franchise and deliver an authentic story to our fans.”  

To see that Netflix has now found a screenwriter for Gears of War means that the movie’s development should start ramping up much more heavily. What most fans remain curious about, though, is who will end up being cast to star in the project. Currently, Dave Bautista continues to be the actor that most fans want to see portray the central protagonist of Gears of War, Marcus Fenix. Bautista himself has also lobbied heavily in the past to appear in the movie, but it remains to be seen if Netflix will opt to go down this route. 

How do you feel about Spaihts now developing the script for Netflix’s Gears of War movie? And when do you think that this film will actually end up releasing? Be sure to let me know either down in the comments or reach out to me on Twitter at @MooreMan12.