Deadpool Director Tim Miller to Direct Adaptation of Alien Legion for Warner Bros.

Deadpool director Tim Miller is set to helm another comic book adaptation, Alien Legion. According to The Hollywood Reporter, Warner Bros. has acquired the rights to develop films based on the Alien Legion comic book series. Warner Bros. hopes to turn the space opera into a franchise, perhaps to challenge Disney's Star Wars and Paramount's Star Trek in that space (no pun intended). Miller, who also previously directed Terminator: Dark Fate, is attached. Don Murphy and Susan Montford of Angry Films, the banner that produced Transformers and Real Steel, are producers on the Alien Legion adaptation, as is Aaron Ryder.

Alien Legion has been passed around Hollywood studios for decades, each one failing to get the concept to screens. Angry Films previously brought it to Miramax subdivision Dimension Films, but the studio never raised the funds to develop the property. Jerry Bruckheimer later brought it to Disney with scripts from David Benioff, Michael Brandt, and Derek Haas, but nothing came of it. The rights then reverted to creator Carl Potts, who may have finally found the right home for Alien Legion with Miller and Warner Bros. Pictures Group co-chair and CEO Michael De Luca, both fans of the series, according to THR. Miller, who has also worked on Netflix's sci-fi anthology series Love, Death + Robots since 2019, comes from a visual effects background, which may serve him well in bringing the varied alien beings who make up the Legion – such as Sarigar, the group's leader, with his snake-like body – to life.

What is Alien Legion?

Alien Legion began its publishing history at Marvel Comics when then editor Carl Potts conceived it in 1983 for the publisher's Epic Comics line of creator-owned titles. Co-creators Alan Zelenetz and Frank Cirocco helped realize Potts' initial vision. Alien Legion remains the longest-running title to begin life at the now defunct Epic, moving publication Dark Horse Comics and then Titan Comics after Marvel shuttered Epic in 1996.

Alien Legion follows a motley crew of interstellar mercenaries. The group consists of, according to the official Alien Legion website, "Footsloggers and soldiers of fortune, priests, poets, killers and cads – they fight for a future Galarchy, for cash, for a cause, for the thrill of adventure. Culled from the forgotten and unwanted of three galaxies…"

The latest installment of Alien Legion is Alien Legion: Uncivil War by Potts, Chuck Dixon, and Larry Stroman, published by Titan in 2014. Titan has also reprinted some of the original Alien Legion run published by Epic Comics in the omnibus format.

Why did Tim Miller leave the Deadpool movies?

Miller and his Blur Studio, the animation and design company he co-founded, were instrumental in finally seeing the first Deadpool movie made. Miller helmed that initial outing, starring Ryan Reynolds as Wade Wilson, but left afterward, leaving the director's chair open for David Leitch to helm Deadpool 2 and Shawn Levy to direct Deadpool 3. In 2019, Miller said he dropped out of the Deadpool sequels due to how much control Reynolds wanted over the franchise.

"It became clear that Ryan wanted to be in control of the franchise," Miller said on an episode of KCRW's The Business podcast. "You can work that way as a director, quite successfully, but I can't. I don't mind having a debate, but if I can't win, I don't want to play. And I don't think you can negotiate every creative decision, there's too many to make. So, Ryan's the face of the franchise, and he was the most important component of that, by far. So, if he decides he wants to control it, then he's going to control it."

Deadpool is streaming on Disney+. Terminator: Dark Fate is streaming on Hulu.